Here’s a video, unearthed today, of a fresh-faced, 19-year-old Kanye West performing at a store-opening party for record store and underground hip-hop hub Fat Beats. Back in 1996, Kanye was just a fledgling Chicago emcee, but there’s clearly a lot of confidence and raw talent on display here (highlight: “Rhymes for low fare/Flying out of O’Hare/While these no-name ass n-ggas wanna go there”) and the crowd seems pretty entranced by his performance. Do you think they knew, somewhere deep down, that Yeezy season was approaching?
