Latto Fans Barely Recognize Her In Teenage Rap Video

BYGabriel Bras Nevares4.0K Views
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Sips & Sounds Summer Festival
AUSTIN, TEXAS - JULY 29: Latto performs onstage during Sips & Sounds Summer Festival at Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park on July 29, 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images)
Don't ever think Latto hasn't put the work in for a long time.

Latto has been rapping for a long time, as she has plenty of old performance clips from when she was just a teenager. However, a new example of this that hit the Internet this week might be the most unrecognizable and shocking yet. Moreover, it's a music video of her with two friends rapping over a trap beat that sounds right out of the early 2010s, and this is when she was still going by "Miss Mulatto." In it, the Atlanta femcee has some fun in front of a green screen and delivers a charismatic verse with a much higher pitch than what you'll find on Sugar Honey Iced Tea.

It's always heartening and at least pretty cool to see where rappers came from, especially when they are such huge stars now. It also goes to show that Latto's been about female rap from the jump, even if some shade she sent Ice Spice's way might put that in question for some today. Nevertheless, everybody has to start somewhere. Setting up the timeline for her artistic evolution reveals a pretty step-by-step progression thanks to videos like these.

Latto's Been Rapping For A Long

What's more is that 2024 is the perfect time to look back on Latto's humble beginnings since this has arguably been her biggest 12 months yet. In fact, she was named "Trapper Of The Year" at T.I.'s Trap Music Museum in Atlanta, which is the highest honor because it's a source of hometown pride. Of course, we can't discount 2023 either, which held "Put It On Da Floor" and all the groundwork that provided this massive 2024 in the first place. Much like this old rap video, it's always important to connect the dots and understand that there's levels to the amount of work hip-hop's icons have to put in.

Even though Sugar Honey Iced Tea didn't perform the best commercially, that doesn't reflect the dominant conversation that Latto was at the center of this year. There's a lot of ink over the state of female rap and their interpersonal career dynamics, and she's been a big part of that discussion for better or worse. Ultimately, we're just excited to see what 2025 looks like and what the next evolution will be. Maybe we'll look back on this moment years down the line in the same way that we admire this music video.

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a music and pop culture news writer for HotNewHipHop. He started in 2022 as a weekend writer and, since joining the team full-time, has developed a strong knowledge in hip-hop news and releases. Whether it’s regular coverage or occasional interviews and album reviews, he continues to search for the most relevant news for his audience and find the best new releases in the genre. What excites him the most is finding pop culture stories of interest, as well as a deeper passion for the art form of hip-hop and its contemporary output. Specifically, Gabriel enjoys the fringes of rap music: the experimental, boundary-pushing, and raw alternatives to the mainstream sound. As a proud native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, he also stays up-to-date with the archipelago’s local scene and its biggest musical exponents in reggaetón, salsa, indie, and beyond. Before working at HotNewHipHop, Gabriel produced multiple short documentaries, artist interviews, venue spotlights, and audio podcasts on a variety of genres and musical figures. Hardcore punk and Go-go music defined much of his coverage during his time at the George Washington University in D.C. His favorite hip-hop artists working today are Tyler, The Creator, Boldy James, JPEGMAFIA, and Earl Sweatshirt.
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