Have you ever wondered what your favorite rapper sounded like before they made it big? Rappers are humans, and it takes time to hone their skills into something the masses want to hear. Jay Z didn’t come out of the womb rapping “Cashmere Thoughts” through platinum teeth. Kendrick Lamar didn’t wake up at five-years-old and craft good kid, m.A.A.d city in between coloring and nap time. However, some rappers have natural talent, and showcased raw skills even before they made it big. Here are 15 displays of rappers on the mic before they were household names.
And just for fun, we rated each rappers potential from a hindsight point of view.
Chance The Rapper
An 17-year-old Chance spits in front of a handful of people just a few months before his debut mixtape, 10 Day, dropped. He doesn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, as evidenced by the awkward swaying and the frequent head scratching like he’s got lice. But all the Chance elements are in place: the love for his craft, as evidenced by the self-conscious smile he wears when rapping, his endearing quotables (It’s all cool now we’re all little kids at heart”), and his soul-bearing lyrics. Even though the song shows room for improvement – with simple couplets like “talent show” and “magic show” – Chance’s budding talent is evident.
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B-
Mac Miller
Mac is impressive here in a classic cafeteria rhyme session. Holding court around admirers who he’s already proven himself to, the only white kid in sight doesn’t try to be anything he’s not, and just has fun kicking witty lines like “got the skin color of a twinkie/try to take over the world like I was Pinky.” While he would later find that a slower flow suited him better, this is still a strong effort from a budding MC. Taylor Gang for real.
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B
Kanye West
While in the car with Consequence, Kanye spits two freestyles here, and I do mean freestyles. Unlike many of the videos on this list, Kanye didn’t write his rhymes. You can tell by the fact that he screws up a few times (is that the punchline, ‘Ye?), and that in the first freestyle, he goes from content that could belong on “Drive Slow” to “Gold Digger” to “All of the Lights,” all in the span of about 30 seconds. The multisyllabic freestyling and his delivery is impressive, but rhyming about 10-inch rims? That’s like volunteering about your four-inch…toothbrush. Yeah, toothbrush.
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B
Jay Z
“He can do it right…He’s smooth.”
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No mention of Ja Z’s name, just that he’s on Rap City to kick a “funky freestyle.” It only lasts for 16 seconds, and Jay rhymes so fast it takes multiple listens to understand everything he’s saying. It was cool to hear him rap like he just inhaled a pound of adderall, but it’s better he slowed down and became the Jay we all know and revere.
B-
Lil Wayne
Here’s Wayne, at all of eight-years-old, rapping on a Cash Money track. This one is tricky to evaluate, because the production drowns out his voice some, but what can be heard is eye-popping to hear from an eight-year-old kid, both in terms of skills and content. He raps about guns and “mother fuckers” like he’s an adult, and his flow and delivery are on par with a full-grown man, also.
This kid was the real-life Riley Freeman. I have no trouble imagining a young Dwayne Carter getting on Santa’s ass like he’s gon’ pay what he owe. The most striking thing is his comfortability on the track; the charisma that would make him a fan favorite for decades to come is already present.
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C+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkwrosOafCk
Busta Rhymes/Ol’ Dirty Bastard
Busta’s freestyle wasn’t very impressive. His rhymes were pretty pedestrian and monosyllabic. For a rapper who would become renown for his liveliness, there wasn’t near enough wailing going on. And “eenie, meenie, miney, mo,” really?
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C-
Ol’ Dirty Bastard, on the other hand, was hilarious. Rhymes about Yahtzee, Richie, Joanie and Chachi had me cracking up. He might be the only rapper who can yell on a track like he’s the damn boogie monster and get away with it. Make no mistake, he still came with multisyllabic rhymes, proving he had bark and bite.
B+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCfAs_KtuF4
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Eminem
The first video showcases strong rhymes, but it’s the second video that proves Eminem’s battle abilities are the stuff of legend. Eminem was a hyperactive, super-lyrical monster, attacking everything from his opponents’ rhymes to their outfits to even their menstrual cycles. I’m going to give this a high rating not only because it deserves it, but because I don’t want Eminem showing up at my job and dissing my words-per-minute typing skills in front of my coworkers.
A+
Big Sean
“Too many of these rappers are using sex to sell and drugs to sell, so we just wanted to approach it a different way.” – Sean Anderson
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There’s nothing wrong with Big Sean’s message, but it’s hilariously ironic that the guy who went on to rap about marijuana mountains and “leaving feelings in a rubber” once made a music video preaching abstinence from sex and drugs. It doesn’t help that the rhymes are simplistic and painfully corny.
The next video shows a more familiar Sean rapping about “filling her jaws up like Sammy Sosa.” The problem? Sean’s voice is higher than Curren$y on a Sunday afternoon. Or a Monday afternoon. Or a Tuesday morning. Or a Wednes…you get the idea.
D+
Meek Mill
Meek Mill had to have written his rhymes in the first video. The whole presentation, from the melodic opening to the way it flows so precisely with pregnant pauses, screams written. Nevertheless, he deserves credit for being such an excellent writer and rhymer. Which begs the question: Where the hell was this guy last summer? Was Nicki playing double agent, working for Drake to keep Meek distracted from being able to craft a scathing diss track? It’s as good a theory as any, especially when considering the “Reed Dollaz Diss” in the second video.
Meek’s hatred practically smokes out of the speakers in the form of multisyllabic fury. He also bites 50 Cent’s melodic flow from the start of “In My Hood” at around the 2:25 mark. I’d love for 50 to see the video and respond. Curtis? Curtis?
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A
Wiz Khalifa
Yes, Wiz is reading the “freestyle” off his phone, but it’s not like he’s hiding it. He even said beforehand that he hears music, and he writes to it. With that in mind, it’s not as if faking it was a factor here. To the music; the beat was like one of those ear-candy Wiz beats from that you could just put on and ride to (or smoke to, if you’re TGOD) for hours. With that being said, Wiz could have rapped the alphabet and it probably would have sounded good. Young Khalifa doesn’t coast, though, delivering a sufficient verse for a preview of what would be to come when he was on point.
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A-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzM1KV34Za8
Nicki Minaj
“I only rap because I’m good at it. It was a hobby for a minute. But then I was like damn, look at the state of Hip Hop, what’s going on?”
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Listening to this stellar freestyle by Nicki Minaj, one can’t help but wonder what could have been had she signed to a different label. Was turning into a pop star/sex symbol inevitable, given the rough landscape for female rappers in Hip Hop today? Or could there have been a place where she could have stayed truer to her Queens self? Those are only hypotheticals to be pondered, nothing more at this point. But, the excellent freestyle is a reminder that Nicki was once an underground beast.
A
Fetty Wap
Not bad for the dude behind “Trap Queen.” His rhymes, while not very original, are strong. The funniest part of this video, though, is what sounds like a pissed off old guy yelling at Fetty, presumably for swearing during his rhymes in the middle of the fast food joint. Doggone kids with their lousy music!
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B-
Common
Common sense will tell you that it was smart for Lonnie Lynn to switch up his style from what he was attempting with that lively early 90’s performance. It just didn’t work for an MC known for being smooth and sophisticated. The shouts in particular were jolting. Thankfully, like Jay Z did, Common grew into a unique, legendary artist we cherish and love today.
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C-
J. Cole
Back when he was “Therapist,” a teenage Jermaine Cole hit the video camera with confidence, rhyming some certainly pre-written rhymes strongly and even dropping a few one-liners (“I’m like a man with no legs, niggas can’t stand me”) like for which he’d later become known. The video features poor sound quality, so it’s hard to tell how much of the beat is of bad quality and how much of it is just…bad. Nevertheless, this video showcases a hungry young Simba taking steps on his path to greatness.
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B
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoQjGn8w6BE
Kendrick Lamar
K. Dot didn’t need a beat to flow off the top like a true freestyle poet. Even if he was just rhyming hardcore, he still painted a picture: “If my pockets is something you tryna grab/I’ll pull out the rocket and peel you back like scab.” He had the wordplay “you astronaut niggas just crowding my space.” And eventually, ties it together: “Do he really fuck with President Carter/My reply is that I can’t stay away from the bosses/got the bidding war poppin’ like an auction/five or 10 labels like what he hatin’ for/seven zeros or more/Remember having Aftermath sitting on my door/Money in front of me I couldn’t open the door.” And that was just in the first freestyle. Eventually, K. Dot would give way to Kendrick Lamar, and the Aftermath was the birth of a king.
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