The Los Angeles Grammy Museum hosted a special screening of Act I of the new Kanye West documentary, jeen-yuhs: A Kaye West Trilogy. The screening was held in the Grammy Museum theater which was filled with applause, laughter and cheers throughout the showing of the film. The crowd cheered as they saw artists such as little Bow Wow, Beyoncé, Jay-Z and more appear on screen. Audience members giggled as they say a young Kanye West remove his retainer before rapping for a music producer. Guests sympathized with a young Kanye West who struggled to be accepted as an artist.

Tears were shed and sniffles were heard throughout the theater as the audience watched a young Kanye go back to his mother’s house in Chicago, defeated after a dropped record deal. It was an emotional moment as the crowd attentively heard Donda West speak life into Kanye, encouraging his dreams and rapping some of his early rhymes.

The screening was followed by an intimate conversation with Directors Coodie and Chike moderated by their longtime friend, Grammy-nominated spoken-word poet and lead writer for jeen-yuhs,J. Ivy. The conversation touched on the Directors beginnings such as working in Chicago’s well-known Channel Zero, a public access show capturing Chicago’s underground hip-hop scene. The duo explained their process on creating the three-part documentary and filming hundreds of hours, following a young overconfident Chicago soon-to be superstar.

J. Ivy welcomed on stage another old friend, Olskool Ice-Gre, one part of the hip hop duo Abstract Mindstate, who also appeared in the documentary and recently released Dreams Still Inspire, an album produced by Kanye West. The conversation touched on faith and the cultural impact of hip hop. The discussions turned profoundly inspirational as all four jeen-yuhs contributors told their stories on being reunited, working together, living in the crest of hip hop culture. The night closed with an uplifting poem by J. Ivy dedicated to the young daughter of the director of Channel Zero sitting in the front row. All four men stuck around, despite being pressured by security to head to the third floor, to take pictured with guests and give them words of advice.