Frrriiieeennddd!!! I’m so excited to discuss this dope documentary for so many reasons other than the obvious one..friendship!!! But I have to tell you how every year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I share a great read called

“An Intimate View of MLK through the Lens of A Friend” by photographer Flip Schulke. “Outside of my immediate family, his was the greatest friendship I have ever known or experienced,” said Schulke about MLK Jr.

This just shows the impact that you can have on one person just by allowing them to have a closer seat or look into your personal life.

The friend behind the lens! That’s exactly what I recalled when Coodie’s voice echoed at the beginning of this documentary journey with great anticipation. I don’t think any of us knew how Kanye’s story would be narrated, but who would’ve thought that it would’ve been a story told from such a different perspective, while he’s still alive. I think while watching this documentary, many people could agree that this wasn’t just about Kanye’s life, but really about our lives, our relationships, our friendships and the things that we go through to find and get to purpose and the big picture overall. At some point, while watching this, you saw yourself! Tell the truth. You could whole-heartedly relate. Some moments I was Kanye and in others I was Coodie; however, I was interchangeably many other characters in passing as well.

Friend, if you didn’t cry while watching this one, you’re a different kind of beast! Lol. Cause your girl couldn’t help but just cry and cry and cry because I related so much more to the journey above all else. This wasn’t just about watching Kanye’s struggle and hustle to success; it was about watching others go through similar struggles with him while including their importance as well. This isn’t a one-man show; it never will be. No matter who’s captured in the photo, there’s always a whole lot of people surrounding that environment that created that moment. This makes you think about the friends you either had or currently have around you; you can’t help but agree that the one friend that remains behind the lenses of the camera holds a heartfelt position, requires a lot of grace and compassion. It takes someone who really believes in you and hears God, someone that decides that they’re going to stick by your side even when they’re not by your side. Someone that’s going to cheer you on, even when they they’re not a cheerleader on the team, not on the bleachers, or even in the nosebleeds. These are people that we hold dear to our hearts because we know that they understood the assignment from the beginning and we know that they’ll understand in the end, whether they’re here or not. And watching this journey of Kanye West with Coodie and even Chike was one big reminder.

Friendship is everything. Friendship takes us somewhere that many relationships can’t. It ships us to where we need to be and allows us to intertwine with other great souls. And when we include God in the mix, and trust God the entire way, He’ll make sure that the ones that he had for us, the friends that were really supposed to be here, are there. Even if time goes by and flies in between, it will be as though nothing ever happened when the time is right. I can admire the fact that Coodie remained cheerful through the years. He remained hopeful and grateful for the experiences that he received in a friendship that at one point seemed like it didn’t exist anymore. Time had taken the place of closeness and had filled the gaps of what was supposed to be near. But he still looked up in the situation in the best way that he could; he was selfless to be able to come back to Kanye’s aid, time and time again. He accepted the new connections and continued to create and used his talents the best way he knew how and didn’t let what changed, change him.  Now I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty sure there were nights where Coodie cried. I’m pretty sure there were nights where Coodie felt like he was left behind, or he felt like he had given everything he could and put everything on the line for someone who no longer thinks about him and had moved on to do bigger and greater things. I’m good for a friendship pill, but this one is a tough pill to swallow! If you ask me, Coodie took ALL his meds!! He never let what he felt change his situation, change his loyalty, or change the way he continued to pursue life. And because of his heart, because of forgiveness, he was allowed to be used time and time again in the future, and it eventually brought him to this moment after six years of distance from someone that he called a friend. Imagine your forgiveness and selflessness equating to $30 million 10 years from now and most importantly, reconciliation with some of your past friends that meant the world to you (even without the money, a pure friendship is priceless). It made me think, is there at least one friend from my past that I would stop everything I’m doing for? Yes. There is. There always will be. When you call someone a friend and you love them, that doesn’t change on a bad day or through time. Love and loyalty are timeless.

It’s the fact that we don’t know what God is going to do in our lives and who He’s going to use. One thing we know for sure is that if you call a friend and they’re there for you, they’re a friend. So many of us think that we don’t need anybody and that no one else matters outside of the star, but it’s very clear that people matter. People matter even if they matter temporarily because they matter at that moment the most. And some people are going to matter forever. And those are your friends. Those are the people that God’s going to bring back. Those are the people that God resurrected back into your spirit as you watched this documentary, and you’ll never forget them because they impacted you that much. They stopped everything they were doing; they laid their life on the line. They were there for you. They would give you their last and their first. Those are friends.

At one point, Kanye West said in his song “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” that he told God “he’d back in a second” because “it’s so hard not act reckless”.

He was honest, which most Christians and believers aren’t with themselves. We’ve made Holy look like perfection when it’s really just pursuit; pursuit of God/Our identity. I think it’s funny how we tell God that we’ll be back in a second, and expect him to understand as a friend, but find it hard to understand why some people have to separate from us in a season so that they too can come back. God doesn’t operate with us any different from how He allows people to operate with us as well. And one thing about God and His relationship with us is that He will allow us to take breaks. He allows us to have pitstops so that we can smell whatever roses we think we need to smell or venture off and do our own thing to see the difference. However, God will always bring you back. And He’ll use your friends to remind you of who you are, what you’re capable of. Because even after 6 years of silence in a friendship, Coodie ended up in a car with Kanye after so many things had happened in his life, so many breakthroughs, so many breakups, and breakdowns only to remind him that our God can move mountains. Your friends will come back to remind you that you just must focus on God and remember where you came from.

There are people out there that understand the difference that you make and how different you are. They’ll even keep praying for you until that difference changes the world the way that God saw it fit. I appreciate this documentary so much, not because of the fame, not because of the money, not even because of Coodie’s accomplishments, but really because it reminded me that God is in control of so much more than we see or understand. And that even when we think we’re losing the people that meant the most to us and have to watch them live a life that we didn’t expect to live without them, God brings it all together, when the time is right. It will make so much sense soon, and we have no choice but to give God all the glory for what he has done and what He continues to do in our friendships. Thank you, Coodie, Ye, and Chike for your vulnerability.