"Renegade" is a song by American rapper

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

featuring fellow American rapper

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

, who produced the song with Luis Resto. Written by all three, the song appears as the 12th track on the former's sixth album ''

The Blueprint ''The Blueprint'' is the sixth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released on September 11, 2001, through Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. Its release was set a week earlier than initially planned in order to combat bootlegging. ...

''. It was originally a collaboration between Eminem and

Royce da 5'9" Ryan Daniel Montgomery, known professionally as Royce da 5'9" (or simply Royce 5'9"), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Montgomery is currently one half of the rap duo Bad Meets Evil with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, and ...

as part of the

Bad Meets Evil Bad Meets Evil is an American hip hop duo composed of Detroit-based rappers Royce da 5'9" (Bad) and Eminem (Evil). Bad Meets Evil was formed in 1998, thanks to the duo's mutual friend, Proof. The group's name comes from the song "Bad Meets Evi ...

series, but Royce was later replaced by Jay-Z.Royce Da 5'9 on Eminem Lab
/ref> The original can be found on mixtapes and has been leaked onto the internet. The Jay-Z version of the song, released in 2001 as featured on ''The Blueprint'', was later included as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of Eminem's 2005 greatest hits album, '' Curtain Call: The Hits''.

Background

"Renegade" was originally recorded by

, a hip hop duo with members

and

. During the recording of Royce da 5'9"'s debut studio album '' Rock City'', to be released via

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

informed Royce da 5'9" that they would only allow one Eminem collaboration on the album, forcing him to choose between two songs the pair had recorded together: the title track and "Renegade". He chose the former, which went on to be released as the album's first single, leaving "Renegade" unreleased for the time being. During an interview on the MTV show ''RapFix Live'' in 2011, Eminem revealed that he had initially intended to present Jay-Z with an entirely different production when the latter reached out and asked him to work on ''The Blueprint'': however, Eminem did not have physical access to the reel it was recorded on at the time. Knowing Jay-Z was working to a short deadline, Eminem decided to offer him "Renegade" instead. After Royce da 5'9" granted his approval, Jay-Z recorded his own vocals in place of Royce's and sent them back to Eminem, who mixed them together into the final version of the song. The song is referenced by rapper

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

on his famous diss song "

Ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be c ...

" made during their highly publicized feud. Nas says to Jay-Z that "Eminem murdered you on your own shit;" stating that he felt Eminem outperformed Jay-Z on Jay's own song. Years later Jay admitted the Nas claim in " A Star Is Born". Nas and Jay-Z had both contributed to the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of Eminem's 2002 film '' 8 Mile'', with Nas' contribution, "U Wanna Be Me", being a diss towards Jay-Z. Rapper The Game made reference to the Nas verse on Ether, on his own song with Eminem, "We Ain't", in satire by stating "Lo, get Dre on the phone quick Tell him Em' just killed me on my own shit".

Song meaning

The song has different meanings to both artists. Jay-Z's two verses deal with his fatherless childhood, and how financial difficulties faced by his mother forced him to sell drugs for survival (thus becoming a renegade to society). He states his demeanor was "30 years issenior," implying that hardships he faced during his childhood forced him to grow up and make adult decisions from a young age. Jay-Z argues that his music is the product of his rough upbringing, and that it speaks to others going through the same problems. Thus, he dismisses critics who lump him together with artists who only rap about "

jewels A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

". He accuses these critics of simply "skimming" through his music, instead of listening thoroughly. On the other hand, Eminem deals with the public perception of his music. At the time, Eminem was at the center of many criticisms due to the content of his lyrics. His references to drug use and religion caused many parents to publicly denounce his music. Eminem sees this outcry as hypocritical, claiming that these parents are using him as a "media scapegoat" to deflect attention away from their own shortcomings as parents. Both of his verses are to state that Eminem and he are liable to kill if the need is felt. Ultimately, both Jay-Z and Eminem use the hook to say that, while they may face public disapproval for different reasons, they will not change their behavior and have "never been afraid to talk about anything".

Credits and personnel

The credits for "Renegade" are adapted from the liner notes of ''The Blueprint''. ;Studio locations * Mastered at Masterdisk,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. * Mixed at Studio A Recording,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. * Recorded at Baseline Studios, New York City, New York. ;Personnel *

–

songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, songwriting, mixing *

Young Guru Gimel Androus Keaton (born February 27, 1974), better known by his stage name Young Guru, is an American audio engineer, record producer, disc jockey, and record executive from Wilmington, Delaware. In 2019, Young Guru won a Grammy Award for Be ...

– recording * Richard Huredia – mixing * Tony Dawsey – mastering * DJ Head –

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mus ...

* Luis Resto – keyboards

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renegade (Jay-Z Song) 2001 songs Eminem songs Jay-Z songs Songs written by Jay-Z Songs written by Eminem Song recordings produced by Eminem Hardcore hip hop songs Political rap songs Songs written by Luis Resto (musician)