Watch 19-Year-Old Kanye West Freestyle at a New York Record Store

"What took me by surprise was the appearance of this 19 year old kid who at that time nobody knew," DJ Eclipse wrote with the video

By Bruna Nessif Jul 18, 2014 12:31 AMTags
Kanye WestYouTube

How's this for #ThrowbackThursday?!

A YouTube video of young Kanye West rapping in New York surfaced on the Internet today and it's pretty impressive. The nearly 2-minute clip shows Yeezy at the ripe age of 19, hanging out with friends at the Fat Beats store in 1996 for their 6th Avenue grand opening, and taking the mike to show his freestyling skills.

West seemed to have a little trouble getting started, but once he got his flow going, he couldn't be stopped, rapping about talks about his technique, Alanis Morissette, living in his hometown of Chicago and how "it ain't original because I'm coming from the future"—just to name a few topics.

"What took me by surprise was the appearance of this 19 year old kid who at that time nobody knew," the description of the video, which was uploaded by Fat Beats general manager DJ Eclipse, read. "Now I've had this person as a guest on my radio show years later, but it's pretty crazy to see this footage in '96 and think 'damn, this dude was in my house then?' and not even know. More to come...."

Five years later, 'Ye would enter the big leagues with his production for Jay Z's 2001 hit "Izzo (H.O.V.A)," and three years after that he released his debut album, 2004's The College Dropout.

Since then, Kanye's became one of the biggest names in the music industry.

It's crazy to see how far he's come.