Post Malone is ostensibly a rapper, but he doesn’t really seem to care all that much about rap music. He started out playing guitar, and he still has a tendency to break out acoustic covers of Nirvana and Green Day songs at his shows. He has tattoos of people like Dimebag Darrell, John Lennon, and Kurt Cobain on his fingers. All of this is to say, it shouldn’t be terribly surprising that he started out slinging acoustic emo ballads. Because that’s exactly what he started out doing.

As XXL reports, some Post Malone fans did some digging and managed to unearth the rapper’s pre-fame SoundCloud account. Going by Austin Richard — his full name is Austin Richard Post — he recorded angst-filled acoustic songs with titles like “Stairs & Strangers” and a heavy dose of Conor Oberstian vocal quaver. There’s a cover of “Silent Night,” for some reason. The tracks date back to seven years ago, which means he was around 16 years old at the time. Check them out below.