Kanye West dropped his second studio album, Late Registration, on August 30th, 2005. Ten years later, it’s still respected as a major game changer in hip hop history—and Kanye is possibly a presidential candidate.
To celebrate the decade anniversary of the record’s release, we’ve compiled a collections of some throwback pictures of the musical genius. Now that he’s all presidential and all, let’s look back at when he was just a young rapper on the come up. Check out Yeezus on his Roc-A-Fella flow.
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Getty ImagesBack in the day, Kanye may have just been getting recognition, but he was still cool with some big guns in the game. One of his boys was Damon “Dame” Dash. -
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Getty ImagesPre-Yeezus even chilled with the Overweight Lover, Heavy D. -
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Getty ImagesForever a mama’s boy, he would take his mother to special events with him. Proud of her baby, she was always his biggest cheerleader, supporting him along his musical journey. -
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Getty ImagesIt looks like Ye was always interested in the fashion industry. Here he is chillin’ with Bilal, Capone Mark Ecko at one of Mark’s fashion shows during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. -
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Getty ImagesFrom street wear to haute couture, Kanye kept himself on the pulse of fashion by even kicking it with designers like Donatella Versace. -
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Getty ImagesLittle did ’Ye know that he would be married to one of La La’s best friends, Kim Kardashian, years later. -
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Getty ImagesBudding style icon he was, we’re sure he was thinking what we all are when we see this pic: What the heck were on homegirl’s feet? -
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Getty ImagesAlso a BFF of Kim, Ciara and ’Ye would wind up being closer years down the road. -
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Getty ImagesHe’s definitely been all about music education forever too. Here, he’s at the Chicago State University, the school where he dropped out! Serving as a surprise professor for MTVs’s show, MTVu Stand In, ’Ye taught a songwriting master class. To go from student, to dropout, to professor at the same school, ’Ye’s the real MVP. -
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Getty ImagesWe can’t get over how adorable he was back then though. We miss him smiling so much. -
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Getty ImagesRosario Dawson couldn’t get over his cuteness, either! She got her life squeezing those cheeks. -
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Getty ImagesYou can’t be a part of Roc-A-Fella and not throw up that roc sign though. Represent! -
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Getty ImagesAs time went on, you can see Kanye slowly getting more swagged up. His outfits started looking so fresh and so clean and he was stepping up his bling game. -
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Getty ImagesThe mean mug was even beginning to form, even with his longtime friend John Legend by his side. -
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Getty ImagesPreviously referring to Hov as his big brother–he even wrote a song entitled “Big Brother” about Jay Z–Kanye pretty much credited Hov for forcing him to get his bars up. -
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Getty ImagesAgain with a baby mean-mug, ’Ye always hung out with the realest. He was even cool with Love & Hip Hop’s Consequence back in the day. -
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Getty ImagesHis hometown homeboy Common and Lil Kim also had love for the future superstar in the making. -
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Getty ImagesDid we mention we really miss this guy’s smile? Can’t stress this enough… -
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Getty ImagesPerforming his hit song “Gold Digger” with Jamie Foxx, Kanye’s reign was about to be real. -
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Getty ImagesThe roc is still alive every time he cries forever, ever.