Kanye West’s ‘Jeen-Yuhs’ Documentary Has Industry Professionals Weighing In On One Viral Scene

The first part of the Netflix Kanye West documentary Jeen-Yuhs has been out for about a day now, and as fans take in the episode, one scene, in particular, has sparked a wide-ranging Twitter debate between fans and industry professionals. The documentary follows Kanye as he bum-rushes the Roc-A-Fella Records office with his camera crew in tow to play “All Falls Down” for people during a busy workday.

Much of the criticism focuses on then-head-of-marketing Chaka Pilgrim’s stonefaced reaction to Kanye’s antics as he commandeers her CD player and proceeds to perform the song in her face. Meanwhile, the narration provided by the documentary’s director and longtime Kanye cheerleader Coodie depicts this moment as a deflating one for Kanye, who believes that he should be signed to the label as a rapper and not just a producer.

Today’s fans are aghast that the denizens of the office seem less than enthused by the record, which went on to peak at No. 7 on the Hot 100, receive a double Platinum certification, and was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 47th Grammy Awards. However, some industry professionals — at least one of whom was actually in the office on the day in question — have responded to the backlash hoping to set the record straight.

By way of context, Wayno Clark, who is the current VP of A&R for Quality Control Music after holding positions all over the music industry for the past two decades, offered his take as one of the people who were in the office on the day in question. “He played this song in the office and did this with a camera crew like 10x,” he explained. “How many times can you have a crazy reaction to something you’ve heard 10x? It was kind of annoying at that point.”

So, Kanye, in a nutshell.

“Y’all also gotta realize this is at a time when phones ain’t even have cameras on em,” he further elaborated. “He came with a camera crew all the time recording everything. People weren’t used to that, Chaka hair ain’t even done you think she was happy to be on camera?”

Other industry vets also weighed in on the intrusion, explaining that it was not only a workday but that the folks in the office were busy ensuring that Roc-A-Fella’s existing roster of potential hits got out to the world at large, as well. That didn’t stop fans from replying with their fan goggles firmly in place, berating industry pros — y’know, the people whose jobs entailed making sure that the music was put out and marketed well enough that it could do all those things listed above — for basically not doing their jobs — which, y’know… they did.

It’s a prime example of “not everybody deserves a platform to share their opinion” but alas, here we are. Social media gives everyone a megaphone — including Kanye, who spent the last week or so abusing his by using it to harass his ex-wife — and everyone is entitled to their opinion. But there comes a certain point when you really should listen to the experts. Fortunately, they’ve got megaphones of their own. Check out more responses below.