It's crazy to think that there was once a time when Kanye West would be caught dead in public wearing a Reese's t-shirt over Givenchy, but hey, in Kanye's defense, 2003 was a weird year for a lot of us. Despite being unrealistic, it did, in fact, happen, and there's video footage to prove it: In this vintage clip, Kanye West performs "Gold Digger" back in 2003 before his first album, The College Dropout was released, and it's totally glorious — it even features John Legend on piano!
According to the description of the video (which was unearthed by Channel Dynamic), the performance took place at the 2nd Annual Dynamic Producers Conference. While much of "Gold Digger" does sound similar to the studio version that would eventually take over the radio for much of the early '00s, there are a few key differences in this live version: It's very stripped down musically, and is really only Kanye and Legend's piano-playing in the background — no autotune, no infectious beat, and no intro from Ray Charles' "I Got A Woman."
Considering the West of 2015 — married to Kim Kardashian, dripping in designer duds, and a best friend of pretty much every fashion designer worth knowing — it's a total trip to see him here, before the fame, still as talented as ever.
Check the video below:
