Trivia
- The song marks the third track produced by Eminem, following “Renegade” and ““8 Miles and Runnin’.”
- In the song’s chorus, JAY-Z references each of his studio albums, from Reasonable Doubt to The Black Album.
Words from JAY-Z
“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. 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. 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.
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. … 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.