50 Cent has long stopped considering himself a rapper alone. What with his acting career starting to take off and the many other side projects he’s involved in, Fiddy is a bona fide businessman and he’s perhaps the first to say it out loud. However, before that, he is an actor who’s still trying to prove his worth with audiences and critics alike, and, it seems, his tattoos were holding him back, as ShowbizSpy reports.

In a recent interview with the US media, Fiddy revealed that his ink, especially the one he got throughout the years on both his arms, while still gorgeous, was making it very difficult for him to give substance to his onscreen characters. More specifically, the rapper stressed, the tattoos meant a lot of time in the makeup chair, where stylists would cover them up. This, in turn, made whatever character he portrayed at the time less believable.

“I took ‘em off. I’ve been on a few acting projects and they been making me get up… My call time is four hours before the regular acting talent because of the tattoos.” 50 Cent revealed. One project in particular made it necessary for him to undergo many sessions of laser removal because it’s a film close to his heart and for which, therefore, he wants to give it his best. Of course, this means that too much makeup ruins the character, so the tattoos simply had to go.

“I’ve got a project I’m supposed to be doing with Nicolas Cage, called ‘The Dance,’ it’s a boxing film… it’s like my passion project and… when you’re a fighter you’re sweating and with a whole bunch of make-up on and stuff like that, it doesn’t look real to me. I kept my back piece. I can’t take that off.” the rapper turned actor further explained in the same interview.

While on the topic of his acting career and the movie industry where he’s set to make a name for himself, 50 also explained that he had always seen himself as successful, the only surprise being that he never quite expected it to happen this fast. The recipe for his impressive success, he said, is that he never stops challenging himself by setting new goals each step of the way.