Earliest known footage of Latto emerges
‘Big Energy’ star Latto has been an ever present fixture of the rap scene for several years, rising to international acclaim following the platinum-selling 2019 hit, ‘Bitch from da Souf’. However, the 25-year-old has been rapping since the young age of ten, meaning that she had a long time honing her style before breaking out. Now, the earliest known footage of her rapping has emerged online.
Famously, Latto – real name Alyssa Michelle Stephens – first came to national prominence when she was a contestant on the Lifetime reality series, The Rap Game, produced by hip-hop powerhouses, Jermaine Dupri and Queen Latifah. A boot-camp-styled show, it followed aspiring rappers over eight weeks, and the season Latto starred in under her original stage name ‘Miss Mulatto’, saw her win the competition.
In a show of her grit and determination to do it her own way, she was offered a recording contract by Dupri from his legendary Atlanta label So So Def Records, a heavyweight name in Southern hip-hop, but bravely turned it down, maintaining it wasn’t enough money.
Instead, she continued operating as an independent artist, a bold move that proved to be the making of her as Latto. The success of ‘Bitch from da Souf’ in 2019 led to her securing a contract with RCA Records in March 2020.
Since then, Latto has kept pushing on and has risen to become one of the most popular female rappers in the business. This status was confirmed in February 2023, when she was nominated for ‘Best New Artist’ at the Grammys. She has since worked with Jungkook, Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez, and there’s also been serious talk of a feud with Ice Spice, a far cry away from her days as an aspiring rapper.
Latto, like many rappers, has had a long road to the top, which has meant many of her old performance clips have cropped up online. Now, the earliest known footage of her rapping as a teenage ‘Miss Mulatto’ has appeared. It appears to be from the early 2010s, and she can be seen rapping with two friends, Baby Shun and Chynna, over a trap-styled beat, in front of a green screen that changes colours. It’s a pretty innocuous clip, but the track is fairly accomplished one for rappers who are so young. In it, Latto’s voice is incredibly high-pitched compared to what it is today.
In other Latto news, she recently revealed her pick for the greatest female emcee of all time as Brooklyn legend Lil’ Kim. She said on Complex’s GOAT Talk podcast: “Fashion icon, timeless music, timeless looks, gon’ forever be a staple, in not only rap, but female rap. And she the GOAT because she is a queen for real. Like off camera, she a queen… I love her, and she ‘Big Mama,’ too. It’s just a Big Mama thang.”