Topline

A new documentary detailing the rise and fall of Kanye West, the rapper who lost his billionaire status after instances of bizarre and antisemitic behavior, opens in theaters Friday, featuring plenty of revelations and celebrity cameos including a discussion about breakups with Elon Musk.

Kanye West’s new documentary opens in theaters Friday. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Key Facts

In one scene from “In Whose Name?” a new documentary that largely covers West’s public outbursts and mental health struggles, West and Musk lie “shoulder-to-shoulder on a giant floor cushion, talking about their love lives like teenagers at a slumber party,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Musk asks West whether he and his ex-wife Kim Kardashian are “on-and-off or something,” admitting his own relationship with singer Grimes was complicated: “In the same text stream, she’s like, ‘I love you.’ And then, like, you know, a day later, like, ‘I hate you.’”

West responded to Musk claiming he has “answers to everything except for that.”

Musk reportedly appears in another scene, telling West at the rapper’s 2023 concert in Miami that it was an “amazing” and “rare experience,” thanking West for inviting him.

Musk is one of a handful of notable celebrity cameos in “In Whose Name?” which also features brief appearances from Kardashian and her mother Kris Jenner, BeyoncĂ© and Jay-Z, Drake, Pharrell Williams and includes West having a brief phone conversation with Jared Kushner.

What Else Do We Know About “in Whose Name?”

“In Whose Name?” opens in limited theaters Friday. The documentary was directed by Nico Ballesteros, a little-known director who was 18 when the project began in 2019 and reportedly filmed more than 3,000 hours of footage of West. West, in a text exchange Ballesteros posted to Instagram last year, called the documentary “very deep. It was like being dead and looking back on my life.” It’s unclear how much creative control West was granted over the film, as he is not listed among the documentary’s producers, though Ballesteros told the Hollywood Reporter West never gave him notes because he “understood that I was telling a story objectively.”

What Are Some Of The Big Moments In “in Whose Name?”

“In Whose Name?” spans the past six years of West’s life, including the end of his marriage to Kardashian, his struggles with mental health and the end of his deal with Adidas, which ended his billionaire status. In one scene captured in 2018, West speaks with Kushner over the phone ahead of his visit to the White House and tells him he was an entrance like a “foreign dignitary.” “If I get killed wearing the hat in front of the White House, you’re not gonna win any midterms,” West reportedly said. West, in another scene, reportedly spars with Kris Jenner and leaves her in tears, yelling he would “would rather be dead than to be on medication” while claiming the Kardashian family made him feel like a “piece of sh*t” because he was “medicated.” Conservative commentator Candace Owens makes multiple appearances, including one posthumous appearance by Charlie Kirk, with Owens reportedly telling West in one scene: “Whoever can control culture can control politics.” Following one outburst, West claims to Kardashian his short temper is just his “personality,” and Kardashian responds: “But your personality was not like this a few years ago.” The documentary reportedly ends on West losing much of his career, including his deal with Adidas, as Live Nation refuses to support a potential concert tour and Las Vegas’s Sphere declines his calls, though West says it was worth it to blow up his business relationships.

What Are Critics Saying About “in Whose Name?”

Initial reviews are mixed, though The Guardian critic Andrew Lawrence gave it four stars and called it a “grimly compelling watch.” Lawrence writes West’s “visceral need to always be right” explains his inner circle was “initially hesitant to push back against his antisemitic and white-supremacist rants.” Lawrence said the documentary offers a “more complete picture of where and how it all went so wrong” for West, but admitted it does not contain many new revelations. Variety critic Steven J. Horowitz called the documentary a “frustrating watch,” stating the documentary doesn’t offer much new information for those who have followed West closely in recent years. Rolling Stone critic Jeff Ihaza said the documentary is able to “humanize” West’s struggles, but noted it “stops short of landing anywhere coherent, which maybe says it all.”

Further Reading

Kanye West Documentary Filmmaker Says ‘In Whose Name?’ Is About Fame, Not Breakdowns (The Hollywood Reporter)