20 Videos Of Rappers Before The Fame

Hip-hop is undeniably deep in some sort of nostalgia phase; you only have to look at the sheer number of reunions and celebrated anniversaries that have cropped up in the past two years to see that. But while it's always great to see classic outfits like G-Unit and Dipset get back together, there's something about seeing those rappers back in the day, before they hit it big, that is still something to be cherished. When XXL went through our archives and uncovered old video of Kendrick Lamar doing Karaoke in our office years ago, it set us digging through YouTube to find some classic interview and archival footage of some of our favorite rappers either right before or right on the cusp of superstardom. Whether it's Tupac, Bone Thugs, Eazy-E or Jay Z, check out these 20 throwback videos of rappers when they were young. —Chris Harris with XXL Staff

Previously: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Look Back At Creepin On Ah Come Up
Watch This XXL Throwback Of Kendrick Lamar Doing Karaoke
Throwback Footage Of Kanye West On Tour
Here Is Unreleased Footage Of Kanye West From A 2010 Reality TV Show Pilot 

Artist: Tupac
Year: 1988/1989
Interview By: Thug Angel
Why It's Dope: A 17-year-old Tupac introduces himself by shouting out his high school that he's attending at the time. It's a little mind-boggling to hear Tupac talk about what he wants to accomplish at the age of 18, especially knowing everything that happened afterward. This is before the Digital Underground days, and well before 2Pacalypse Now, and has 'Pac talking about the stereotypes that face teenagers of his era, and how he wants to speak more on the social inequities that he sees around him. "We're given no respect, and we have to do a lot," 'Pac says about his generation. "They're scared of watching us grow up. They're scared that when we get the power or responsibilities that we won't be able to handle it." You can see some of the seeds of his socially conscious poetry and rebellious attitude taking root in a teenager with still so much ahead of him.

Artist: Dr. Dre, N.W.A
Year: 1989-1993
Interview By: MTV News Raw
Why It's Dope: MTV put together an assortment of clips containing interviews with Dr. Dre. The fuzzy footage depicts Dre decades before he decided to sell his headphones to Apple for over a billion dollars. At that time, he was just another young kid from Compton with a great ear for music. Two things stand out during this montage of MTV interviews: Dr. Dre and Eazy-E’s friendship and N.W.A riding on the back of a wagon through Compton. The clips chronicle Dre’s career over the course of four years (1989-1993). During the final interview, Dre discusses whether or not he still considers himself a gangster after leaving N.W.A. He giggles and replies, “I’m here to make money.”

Artist: GZA (Genius), ODB (Ason Unique), RZA (Prince Rakeem)
Year: 1991
Interview By: Rhythm & Soul
Why It's Dope: Before there Wu-Tang Clan had even assembled, cousins GZA, RZA, and O.D.B. were interviewed on a short-lived local Bronx public access program called Rhythm & Soul. GZA, better known as Genius at the time, speaks on his debut album, Words From The Genius, which was released on Cold Chillin Records. Check out their haircuts; that's where the real classics are found here.

Artist: EPMD & Redman
Year: 1992
Interview By: Yo! MTV Raps
Why It's Dope: Eric Sermon, one half of the iconic duo EPMD, talks about meeting Redman at a club in New Jersey before giving him an opportunity to rap. Two years later, Redman is on the eve of dropping his own debut album, Whut? Thee Album, and describes his sound as true Parliament funk. The Yo! MTV Raps crew are later joined by the other half of EPMD, Parrish Smith, in Daytona Beach, Fla. Smith mentions that EPMD’s next album will be called Business Never Personal before introducing a new video from their Hit Squad affiliates Das EFX.

Artist: Eazy-E
Year: Early 1990s
Interview By: Slammin' Rap
Why It's Dope: Remember Tairrie B.? Originally a rapper, she was signed to Eazy-E before she became the singer in a series of metal bands in the mid-1990s. But in this throwback interview, she leads the interview with Eazy, with the two of them clowning around before getting down to talking around the 3 minute mark. Eazy pumps up Temporarily Insane, the album that was supposed to follow up Eazy-Duz-It, but would eventually emerge in 1993 as the EP It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa. They play word association, what Eazy listens to (hint: Guns N Roses) and the future direction of hip-hop at the time. Any view into Eazy's life is a treasure these days, and this interview is a great look at that.

Artist: Nas
Year: 1993/1994
Interview By: Video Music Box
Why It's Dope: One of the best things about Nas is that he's been one of the most consistent artists of his generation, and this interview from around 1994—before Illmatic—sees Esco with his customary bottle of liquor in hand reacting to being called "a living prodigy." Nas was barely out of his teens at this point, and right on the cusp of the superstardom that would come in the next half-decade, with a singular focus on bringing his brand of hip-hop to the masses. "I want to work with The Beatles," he says at one point. That one still hasn't happened, but Nasty Nas has plenty of time left in the game to drop bars over some Beatles samples.

Artist: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Year: 1994
Interview By: Cleveland News Channel 8
Why It's Dope: Long before Bone Thugs-N-Harmony had thoughts of selling a million dollar album, the Cleveland-based crew was just excited to be making music that people enjoyed. In this interview, their debut project, Creepin On Ah Come Up had just been certified 2x platinum; it would eventually sell over 4 million copies. The man largely responsible for the group’s early success, Eazy-E, grins, while holding their plaque. Unfortunately, Eazy died from AIDS the next year. His untimely death happened four months before the release of the Bone Thugs’ second studio album, E. 1999 Eternal—a project he had executive produced. Bizzy, Krayzie, Layzie, Wish, and Flesh would dedicate the album and its hit single “Crossroads” to their mentor.

Artist: Jay Z, Craig Mack and Puffy
Year: 1994
Interview By: Blacks In Action
Why It's Dope: Jay only makes a brief appearance at the beginning—shouting out the then-new Summer Jam, which would place this interview somewhere around 1994—but it's Puffy's San Jose Sharks jersey which really steals the show. Diddy shouts out his "first artist" Craig Mack, who was at the time about to drop "Flava In Ya Ear," and mentions Biggie and Usher with projects coming out soon. It's a rare look into the early days of Mogul Puff.

Artist: Lil Kim
Year: 1995
Interview By: Phat Clips
Why It's Dope: The original Queen B, Lil Kim gets pampered while she answers questions about her plans to take over hip-hop. Kim talks about her Junior Mafia clique and the relationship she has with the group, which was comprised of neighborhood friends from Brooklyn. She also sounds excited to be prepping her debut project, Hard Core, an album that would knock down several doors for future female MCs, though not without controversy. In the clip, Kim gives the interviewer an exclusive on the name of her first album. She says it will be titled The Queen Bee. Instead, Kim ended up going with Hard Core, a more appropriate title for her lewd lyrics and raunchy act.

Artist: Kanye West
Year: 1996
Interview By: Fat Beats
Why It's Dope: Not only is Kanye on fire with his rapping skills, he's a world away from the Yeezy we know and look at as an innovator today. It's not an interview, but it provides a fairly fascinating insight into the rapper and egotist that 'Ye would grow into in the following decade. Also, don't miss that Polo shirt—we certainly didn't. Chicago, what!

Artist: Jay Z
Year: 1997
Interview By: Industry Ave
Why It's Dope: Jay sat down in the original Roc-A-Fella office to chop it up about the business side of things right at the start of his career and, among other things, his denim shirt is a sight to behold. He talks about following in the footsteps of Death Row, Bad Boy and the Wu-Tang business model, and lays out his views on how to make it in the rap game before he really made it. Even at the beginning of his career, he was all about getting his money right. But some of the most interesting quotes come when Jay is asked whether or not hip-hop can survive without the connection to the drug game and the hood. "Hip-Hop, you know, I think it's like crying, it's like a scream from the ghetto."

Artist: Eminem
Year: 1998
Interview By: Underground Hip-Hop
Why It's Dope: Right off the bat—and before the release of The Slim Shady LP—Em is just as angry as he's ever been, flipping off the camera for the first full minute of the interview. He refuses to do the interview as "Eminem," instead insisting he be called "Slim Shady," and lays out some of the setup before his debut major label album comes. He's got a couple choice words about his single "Just The Two Of Us," and why he puts his personal life into his lyrics, but it's the energy of a young Em that's so magnetic about this. He also dishes on how he first linked with Dre, and lays out the extended version of how Dre first heard his music. The anger and arrogance foreshadows the rawness that he would bring to the game the following year.

Artist: Juvenile, Birdman, Puffy and Lil Wayne
Year: 1999
Interview By: STREETFUNKTV
Why It's Dope: Juvenile is in rare form, coming straight off his Source Awards victory for Single Of The Year for "Ha" and soaking in every minute of the success he was riding. "I enjoyed getting that Source Award, but I'm enjoying this fuckin' money more than anything he says," before he pulls in Birdman to compare watches with Puff. The sheer amount of bling on each rapper's wrist is blinding enough to light up The Tunnel. "First thing you need to know about us, I got the rap game on lock," Birdman says, more forthcoming than he'd ever be today. A very young Weezy slides through around the 4 minute mark, talking about how he's turning 15 in a week, though his timing seems off; Puff talks about Forever being in stores, while Wayne pumps up Tha Block Is Hot, both of which came out in the second half of 1999. This is a classic throwback to when Cash Money was first on top of the charts; 15 years later, not much has changed.

Artist: The Hot Boys
Year: 1999
Interview By: BET Rap City
Why It's Dope: The Hot Boys took the hip-hop industry by storm during the late 1990s, and BET was able to catch up with most of the crew to chat about their newfound success and impact. Cash Money co-founders Brian “Birdman” Williams and his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams discuss their historic contract with Universal, while Lil Wayne and Juvenile promise viewers the Hot Boyz will have plenty of individual success in the future. Check out the all the grillz and bandanas. It’s still funny to watch Birdman try to explain what "bling bling" means. *Note: This was way before Paris Hilton joined the Cash Money Records roster.

Artist: 50 Cent
Year: 2000-ish
Why It's Dope: Just in his early 20s—a little older than the 19 years old the video credits him with—50 is still far away from his G-Unit and Aftermath days, and talks about linking up with Jam Master Jay and the Trackmasters, and signing his first deal with Columbia. "I've been rhyming full-time for like three years," he says right at the end, blessing us with a little window into his come up before the Unit took over. The video is presumably before his fallout with Columbia—which resulted in what was supposed to be his first album, Power Of The Dollar, getting shelved—and before the assassination attempt that left him with 9 bullet holes in his body. It's 50 right before it all came down, and before he built it back up even bigger than before.

Artist: Lil Wayne
Year: Early 2000s
Why It's Dope:  Parts of this interview appear to take place in a church, possibly during a video shoot. While the exact date of the interview is unknown, it seems to have been conducted during the early 2000s, when Wayne released the song “Everything,” an ode to his deceased father that appeared on his second solo album Lights Out. Throughout the clip, Wayne responds to questions about his relationship with his father Rabbit and what it was like to get shot. His budding music career is hardly mentioned; instead fans get a glimpse at Weezy’s rough upbringing and the pain he endured on his way to superstardom.

Artist: Eminem, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre
Year: 2002
Interview By: MTV
Why It's Dope: 50 Cent’s meteoric rise in hip-hop had to begin somewhere, right? In this interview, Eminem and Dr. Dre explain how they signed 50 Cent to a joint venture with Shady Records and Aftermath, while 50 jokes with the cameraman about being overshadowed by Eminem. A few months later, 50’s debut LP, Get Rich or Die Tryin', would change things drastically for the rapper and the entire genre. Fif seems extremely humble and happy to be around Eminem and Dre here, and it's another view inside the rise of one of the most successful MCs of his generation.

Artist: Rick Ross
Year: 2003
Interview By: Video Mix TV
Why It's Dope: In 2003, hip-hop’s biggest Bawse was an up-and-coming rapper with a bunch of fans from Florida who still worked largely behind the scenes as a ghostwriter. It’s remarkable to see Rick Ross so jubilant and joyful as he answers calls from fans on air. His dreams of being rich forever started local. One Rosary rests around Rozay’s neck, which is a meek display compared to the amount of jewelry he wears nowadays. He’s also wearing jorts, which is a sign of the times, but also another reminder that Rozay wasn’t always robed in designer gear. In this video, Ross appears to be a man of the people and his boss persona hasn’t yet kicked in. Neither has his grunt.

Artist: Kendrick Lamar
Year: 2007
Interview By: Dub CNN
Why It's Dope: Kendrick’s black hoodie is practically swallowing his head. Dub CNN caught on to the rising rapper before he had even dropped a single project under his full name, having previously gone by K.Dot. How could they have known this kid would one day release one of the greatest debut albums of the past 20 years? Kendrick talks about “bringing the pure form of artistry to music” within the interview, something he is largely credited with today. At the time, Top Dawg Entertainment was pushing Jay Rock, while Kendrick served as his hype man. His humble, soft spoken voice hasn’t changed much these days, but a lot else has.

Artist: Drake
Year: 2008
Interview By: Real City TV
Why It's Dope: Drake really introduced himself as Aubrey Graham. Somewhere down the line, someone must have advised him to stick with his middle name. In 2008, Drake was better known for his acting career and time spent on Degrassi more than anything else. During the interview, Drake discusses delving into rap and balancing his acting career. “I like doing both,” he admits before mentioning he’s being mentored by Lil Wayne. It’s comical to watch him boast about his Vans and a pair of Crooks & Castles sunglasses that he claims only he and Hov has in the interview. Since then, Drake has been on the cover of GQ three times. Nothing was the same.