How about some vintage Kanye West to start the week? Here’s an unreleased interview ‘Ye did with MTV back in 2002, at which point he was landing major production credits while prepping his College Dropout debut. In the hour-long interview, Kanye spoke with hunger and passion about falling in love with hip-hop as a kid, the first time he played beats for Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Jay Z (jump to 31:18 for Kanye’s impression of Hov’s reaction), linking up with the Roc and looking to bridge the gap between mainstream rap and “real hip-hop.”

Even 12 years ago, Kanye was venting about being put in a box (in this case, as a producer) and not being fulfilled creatively: “In my heart, there’s so much stuff I want to say the world.”

Watch the unreleased interview after the jump…

Thanks to Nation for the heads up.

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