50 Cent Reflects on ‘Wild’ First Meeting With Eminem in a Bulletproof Vest

Before the days of “Patiently Waiting” and “Crack a Bottle,” there was an initial meeting between 50 Cent and Eminem that laid the foundation for one of the most fruitful partnerships in all of hip-hop.

50 sat down with the hosts of Million Dollaz Worth of Game over the weekend and took a trip down memory lane to recall his first encounter with Eminem, which he described as “wild.” The Queens legend even wore his signature bulletproof vest, as he wasn’t going to be taking any chances on the West Coast.

“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 sh– 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].”

50 continued: “I get there, he’s like, ‘Yo!’ Hugs me, feel the vest and sh– and was like [shocked expression]. [I said,] ‘Yo, this is going to be the biggest sh– 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.”

The G-Unit honcho couldn’t process how excited Em was to meet him and potentially collaborate while he was already dominating the industry and coming off the fresh release of his iconic The Marshall Mathers LP.

“When I met him, the first night I met him, he had an event. The Marshall Mathers LP just came out,” 50 went on to provide more context to the initial meet-up. “The first week he sold 1.7 million records. And he was so excited about me that I’m looking like, ‘[Are] you serious?’”

50 would end up signing a joint venture deal in June 2002 to Eminem’s Shady Records and Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment. “Wanksta” served as the first single out of the partnership in November 2002, which landed on the 8 Mile soundtrack and peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“In Da Club” arrived in January 2003 and set the stage for 50 Cent to make the quantum leap to superstardom with his Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ album in February 2003. The glass-shattering debut LP launched at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 872,000 album units sold in the first week.

Watch the interview below. Talk of 50 meeting Em starts around the 51-minute mark.