50 Cent has shared some insight into the memorable first time he met Eminem, calling the experience "wild" and one he thought might be part of a prank. Appearing on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, the rapper – real name Curtis Jackson – looked back at the day in 2000 when he was flown to Los Angeles to meet Eminem, without any idea what to expect.
"It was wild," 50 Cent recalled. “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 sh*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).”
The meeting, as 50 explained, was overwhelming in the best way possible. He described how Eminem was immediately excited to meet him: “I get there, he’s like, ‘Yo!’ Hugs me, feel the vest and shit and was like (shocked).
“(I said), ‘Yo, this is going to be the biggest shit ever, right?’ He’s like, ‘Yo, so excited.’ It made me question whether what 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.”
The rapper also revealed that Eminem was fresh off the success of The Marshall Mathers LP, which had just sold 1.7 million copies in its first week. "And he was so excited about me that I’m looking like," 50 Cent added. "I was like, ‘Are you serious?’"
Before signing with Shady Records, 50 Cent had faced setbacks, including being dropped by Columbia Records. But the meeting with Eminem set the stage for his breakthrough 2003 album Get Rich or Die Tryin’, kicking off a long-running collaboration between the two legendary rappers.
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