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Eminem once felt like he was so famous that he had to wear a bulletproof vest to protect himself at all times. Around the time Jay-Z was working on The Black Album, Slim Shady linked up with Hov in the studio for what would eventually become ‘Moment of Clarity’, which he produced.

Although he didn’t see the body armour on him, Jay-Z explained that he felt the padding under his clothing when they embraced for a hug. Even for someone as well-known as Hov, he admitted he couldn’t imagine being big enough to feel that it was necessary to move around New York City with protection.

“I never even told him this, but I remember that Eminem came into the studio when we made ‘Moment of Clarity’, which he produced, on The Black Album,” he told Interview Magazine. “So here’s Eminem. It’s 2003, I think The Eminem Show had come out, and he was like the biggest rapper in the world—he sold like 20 million records worldwide or some ridiculous number.”

He continued, “But when he came to the studio, I remember I hugged him, and I could feel that he had on a bulletproof vest. I couldn’t imagine being that successful. I mean, he’s a guy who loves rap and wanted to be successful his whole career. Then he finally gets it, and there’s this dark cloud over him.”

At that point, Eminem had previously collaborated with Jay-Z in 2001 on The Blueprint‘s ‘Renegade’, a song he produced and rapped across. Jay-Z went on to reference the beef between 50 Cent and Ja Rule while explaining how “sad” he felt about Eminem having to take those precautions.

“There’s this big beef between 50 Cent and Ja Rule—and between real people, too—so he has to worry about that,” he said. “He has to be afraid to walk around New York freely. I was like, ‘Here it is. You’ve gotten everything you wanted, and now you’re a prisoner of your own fame.’ That’s sad to me—that you have to walk around in a bulletproof vest after you’ve sold 20 million records.”

He added, “So, the point being, what I’m interested in is the thing under the thing. You can think you know where he was at when he said those raps, but I saw another level of it personally, and I found it sad.”

Eminem wasn’t the only Aftermath rapper to wear a bulletproof vest in public around that time. Appearing on Million Dollaz Worth of Game in September, 50 Cent revealed he wore protective gear while meeting Em in Los Angeles for the first time in 2000.

“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 sht 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].”

He continued, “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.’”

During their first interaction, 50 Cent made sure not to mention anything about his feud with Ja Rule so that he didn’t felt like he was getting himself into trouble.