Watch this clip of Kanye rapping at age 19

Thank you Sterogum for uncovering this gem: a YouTube clip of Kanye West age 19, rapping on a Chicago stage in 1996. The clip’s a little grainy (it was probably shot on VHS) but it still captures some of his rhymes and his stage presence which was surely bolstered at the time by his mostly unsatisfied ambition. In all, it’s pretty charming to see West before the fur coats, Twitter rants, and high company doing what he loves, in super fast-talking 90′s fashion, on stage.