The BBC has set a documentary and eight-part podcast exploring the life of Kanye West.
We Need to Talk About Kanye (working title) will be fronted by BAFTA award-winning investigative journalist Mobeen Azhar, who also fronted the BBC’s Battle for Britney doc.
Unfolding against the backdrop of West aka Ye’s 2024 U.S. election campaign, and at a time when his anti-Semitic rantings and behavior have sparked outrage and a re-evaluation of his place in popular culture, the one-off documentary follows Azhar as he attempts to understand the complex journey that led the singer to become one of the most famous and creatively successful artists of his generation.
The feature will be accompanied by an eight part podcast series titled The Kanye Story. The BBC similarly released a feature doc and podcast on Shamima Begum, the British teenager who travelled to Syria to join ISIS before trying to return and having her citizenship revoked.
We Need to Talk About Kanye will air on BBC Two and comes from UK producer Forest. It is distributed by Abacus Media Rights. Executive producers are Catey Sexton and Jez Lee, producer is Laura Kaye and the producer/director is Stefan Mattison. The show was commissioned by the BBC’s newly-appointed Head of Popular Music Jonathan Rothery.