Jeezy reflected on his longtime friendship with JAY-Z for his recent interview on TV One’s “Uncensored.” The 44-year-old explained that the two bonded over being “old souls” and said they “both came from the same struggle.”

“His struggle started before mine and he started walking his path before me. So, I [looked at him]… like how I would look at somebody in the hood who was already getting money before I was,” Jeezy explained.

The “American Dream” rapper added that JAY-Z has always supported him, including times when his own record label abandoned him after members of his team were caught in legal troubles. However, Jeezy recalled one instance where Hov really had his back.

“A lot of people don’t know, we done been in some fistfights and everything,” he revealed. “Some things popped off in Vegas… I gotta say, Hov’s got hands! ‘Cause we was getting down. We was back to back. I heard his assistant say, ‘JAY, get in the car!’ And he was like, ‘I ain’t leaving Jeezy!’ I was like, I rock with him.”

The feeling of support is definitely mutual, as Jeezy praised Hov’s ability to stay true to himself amidst his rise to fame.

“For me, I just respect somebody who has enough respect for themselves not to lose their integrity to please people. That’s the biggest thing I see in him,” he said.

“You gotta have tough skin,” he continued. “Anybody can be an artist. Anybody can be a rapper. But when you start talking about life changing and being in a position that most of us never thought would be humanly possible… Balancing all that and not losing yourself, that takes a special kind of skin. And I think only a few of us have that.”

See a clip from Jeezy’s TV One interview below.