Three years ago a rather important friendship was kindled.

If you let J. Cole tell it–because, according to him, Kendrick’s account of their first meeting differs considerably–three years ago at former L.A. hip-hop U-N-I’s album release party, someone got on stage whose name he couldn’t even make out, and he was blown away by the talent. In a recent interview with blog personality Elliott Wilson, Cole took this away from the telling performance.

“That n*gga’s hungry. Hungry”.

Three years later, with Cole and Kendrick having sold over a million copies of both Cole World: The Sideline Story and good kid, M.A.A.D. city put together, and the Roc Nation star confirming in every interview that the collaboration album with the TDE frontman is very much a reality, Jermaine recounted that moment with Wilson in an interview at Highline Ballroom. “I just was looking and somebody started rapping. As soon as he started rapping I’m like ‘What the fuck?”, he states before describing their meeting and subsequent relationship as “organic”. We’ve uncovered video footage, courtesy of Top Dawg Entertainment themselves, of this distinct performance for your viewing pleasure. Watch as Kendrick makes a lasting impression on J. Cole, to the point where Cole eventually decided on doing an album with Lamar, without even initially knowing his name.

-Khari Nixon (@KingVanGogh)