How about this for a throwback Thursday?
Just unearthed by Complex is this footage of 19-year-old Kanye West rapping in August of 1996 at New York City’s now defunct Fat Beats record store.
The clip was sent in by the former manager of the store DJ Eclipse who had forgotten about the performance until he recently started going through old videos of guest MCs that appeared there in person.
He didn’t have the skills of a God back then but Yeezy’s raw talent is already evident. The baby-faced rapper reps his hometown of Chicago hard during the clip, throws in references to Alanis Morrisette (hey, it was the ‘90s) and at one point, even gives love to New York pioneers EPMD.
Nobody could have known it at the time, but this was history in the making.