50 Cent has recalled how he wore a bulletproof vest for his first meeting with Eminem.
During an interview for Million Dollaz Worth of Game over the weekend, the hip-hop mogul – born Curtis James Jackson III – was asked how he ended up collaborating with the Without Me rapper, real name Marshall Mathers III.
Jackson recounted how he was invited to Los Angeles to speak with Eminem in 2000 but was unsure what the purpose was.
“It was wild,” he said. “Remember that show they had, Punk’d on MTV? I thought they had cameras and they was gonna come out and say, ‘You’ve been Punk’d.’ I was in California. He flew me to L.A. I came out, I was so bugged out from the experience that I came through the airport with the (bulletproof) vest and s**t on. I’m lucky I took the shock plate out the front of the joint because when I came through it (didn’t go off).”
Jackson went on to describe how enthusiastic Eminem was during the encounter.
“I get there, he’s like, ‘Yo!’ Hugs me, feel the vest and s**t and was like (shocked),” the In da Club hitmaker continued. “(I said), ‘Yo, this is going to be the biggest s**t ever, right?’ He’s like, ‘Yo, so excited.’ It made me question whether what was happening was happening was right. It felt so good that it couldn’t be right. I’m like, ‘Yo, nah.’ When I left that meeting, I didn’t want him to feel like he bought a problem so I wouldn’t say anything about Ja Rule and them.”
Elsewhere, Jackson admitted he was amazed at how grounded Eminem seemed at the time.
“When I met him, the first night I met him, he had an event. The Marshall Mathers LP just came out,” he noted. “The first week he sold 1.7 million records. And he was so excited about me that I’m looking like, ‘(Are) you serious?'”
By 2002, Jackson signed a deal with Eminem’s Shady Records and Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment. The music stars have since collaborated on many tracks, including the likes of 2006’s You Don’t Know and 2012’s My Life.
