Written By: Steven McQueen, Influence- Shame
Casting By: Cindy Tolan, Influence- Straight Outta Compton
Production Designer: Nelson Coates, Influence- Flight
Film Editor: Michael Tronick, Influence- Less Than Zero
Director of Photography: Sean Bobbitt, Influence- The Place Beyond The Pines
Time has passed and Ye' is now in college. His father, Kanye, has been working for MP Enterprises for 20 years now. It's boring, but his strong relationship with his son keeps him steady and focused. How are things between Russell and Kanye? There isn't much tension between the two, however it's remains a sensitive relationship after the loss of Lucile.
Now that we're all caught up,
Ye' is an expressive, creative individual similar to his father, minus the drugs. He's going to art school on a scholarship and is in his senior year. Only thing is, he's been having trouble finding inspiration to get started on his senior thesis.
Meanwhile, Kanye has been rising up the corporate ladder and his sales have been through the roof lately. One night, Kanye and his team decide to celebrate a bit after working on a major project and exceeding their goals. Kanye lets loose and drinks a bit. Going to the bathroom to wash his face, he sees a group of interns doing some lines of coke. Kanye's taken back by it, but his colleagues aren't ashamed or embarrassed. Hell, they even offer him some. He's naturally hesitant at first, but he then goes for one line. Then that turns into another line, and once more. Line after line. Party party party let's all get wasted.
Party's over.
The interns have high tolerances and can control themselves, Kanye he wants to keep the night going. He tries hitting up an old friend, Yeezy, but getting in contact with him seems impossible after so many years have passed. He then hits up a liquor store and starts drinking while driving around the city on the hunt for any hot spots in sight. Music blasting, driving reckless, Kanye loses control and gets into a severe accident. What happens? Yup. He died.
Funeral time, Ye's devastated. While standing over his father's grave, he's then approached by Russell. Russell tells him that he knows this is a tough time for him and that he can relate. If he needs anything, he's there for him. Ye' thanks him but just goes home to sulk in sadness. What's next to come is unfortunately nothing but negativity. Everything Kanye was trying to avoid for his boy, Ye' enters this downward spiral as he begins to use drugs to distract himself from reality.
Worrying about Ye' constantly being alone at home, Russell goes to visit him to see how he's doing. When he gets to the front, he notices the door is already open. He then finds Ye' conked out with a band wrapped around his arm and a needle stuck in place. Trying to wake him up, Russell takes him back to his place. (Naturally, he should take him to the fucking hospital but fucking Superman over here wants to do it his way.) Ye wakes up confused and not remembering anything. Coming from the kitchen, Russell finds a functional Ye' sitting up in his bed. Ye' starts the conversation asking why is he there which is followed by a spazzing out Russell telling him he's gonna stay there for a bit. Ye refuses to which Russell enforces he's going to stay at Ye's house then. Ye' not about any of the shit just bounces. Some days pass and after giving Ye' some time to cool down, Russell tries to reach out to him again. This time it's a bit more civil and they compromise to any agreement that Russell will give Ye' his space but will visit him once a week with an update on everything that's going on in his life. Agreeing to it all, the two start to build a relationship.
A slight step in progress, Ye' lands a position as security on campus during the midnight shift. Hoping this will keep him distracted, the slow long hours just pull him down even more as all he thinks about is the recent loss of his father. On top of it all, he's still having issues working on his senior thesis. His sleep schedule is pretty fucked balancing school and this graveyard shift, hits the pipe hoping to catch some solid z's and then wake up refreshed and ready to tackle this project of his. Waking up groggy, he pops some pills to wake up and get started. Staring at blank canvas for a solid hour with too much energy, grabs the needle to cool out. This attempt at trying to find the right balance pushes him to finally create a piece he's satisfied with, but at a unfortunate cost. Unable to control himself, Ye' jumps back into this hole of darkness without any warning. Russell swamped at work lately, realizes he hasn't heard from Ye' in two weeks. Uneasy about it all, he goes to see him after work. Once again, the door is wide open to find a doped up Ye' knocked out on the bed with a mess all around the place. What do we find out next? He never submitted his thesis to which he failed the class which is followed by a not certified to graduate.
Russell, heartbroken by it all brings up Lucile and what she would think of it all. He tries to use that as fuel to get Ye' to compromise with school but it doesn't seem to work. Russell then suggests rehab for Ye' but he just ignores Russell. Giving up, Russell says if he doesn't want to help himself, why should he stick around to see the outcome of it all.
Fast forward a bit we have Russell just, working. Being an adult, doing adult things. And then we have Ye', still a loser at home. One day drunk flipping through the channels, Marilyn Monroe's Some Like It Hot comes on. Ye' suddenly breaks down, remembering that whenever that movie came on, his father would watch it being that it was Lucile's favorite movie.
Ye' heads over to Russell's house late at night and breaks down crying and apologizing repeatedly. He asks Russell if he can sleepover for the night. The next morning during breakfast, Ye' gives in to the idea of rehab. Followed by this, Russell goes to Ye's house to grab a few things before taking him in. We finally see Ye's thesis. The piece he was working on is all centered around his dad. It's the last shot we see before Russell closes the door.