This Video Of Kanye West Rapping With His Mom Will Break Your Heart

Kanye West's late mother, Donda, was and still is an irreplaceably important figure in his life. He named his creative agency after her, and his 2008 LP 808s and Heartbreaks, closed out with "Coldest Winter," a sorta-cover of Tears for Fears' "Memories Fade" in which 'Ye heartbreakingly said a final goodbye to his mother with the words Goodbye my friend, I will never love again; his recent single "Only One" is meant to represent his mother singing through him to his daughter North. During one of the NYC stops of the Glow in the Dark tour, he blasted Journey's "Don't Stop Believin" after performing "Hey Mama" and turned the house lights up in Madison Square Garden, sitting on the edge of the stage with his head in his hands, in total silence. It was and still is one of the most profoundly sad moments I've ever experienced at a concert.

So this video of 'Ye rapping along with his mom in a kitchen (taken from a MTV special detailing the making of Late Registration) is, for obvious reasons, similarly heartbreaking—but there's joy to be found in it, too, to see just how much he clearly treasured his mother in his life. Watch it above; in a literal, emotional sense, it is beautiful.

Lead image: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images