What happens when Jay-Z travels alongside the common people?  He makes friends.  The rapper gave New York City artist Ellen Grossman her fifteen minutes of fame when he was filmed chatting with her on the subway on the way to of his recent shows at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

The video clip above shows Jay entering a subway car with a crowd of security and hyped up fans in tow.  He’s seated next to Grossman and she asks, “Are you famous?”

Jay answers “Yes,” then hedges.  “Not very famous.  You don’t know me.  But I’ll get there someday.”  He introduces himself as “Jay” and when she asks what he does, he humbly responds, “I make music.”

Grossman says she’s “proud of him” for taking the subway and then asks his name again.  “Jay,” he responds.  “Jay-Z.”

You can see the lightbulb go on over her head.   “Oh, you’re Jay-Z.  I know about Jay-Z.”

The footage came from his 24-minute film “Where I’m From: JAY Z Barclays Center Documentary,” which chronicles his preparation for and eight performances at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn (Jay is a co-owner of the venue).

Grossman told the Washington Post that she found it “embarrassing” not to have recognized the star.  She said:

“In general I have poor face recognition unless I know someone really well. I was aware Jay-Z was famous and existed, but I didn’t know how famous.

“[Later] as I checked him out, I realized, how embarrassing that I didn’t know who he was! There were all these photographers and a crowd of happy people around him, and security people. So it sort of dawned on me as I was looking around that he was someone famous.”

Like Jay-Z, Grossman was born in Brooklyn.  She works in drawing and sculpture.  You can learn more about her on her website.

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