Renegade (Jay-Z song)

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Renegade is the 12th track on The Blueprint by Jay-Z. The song features and is produced by Eminem who is the only guest appearance on the album with rap verses. It was originally a collaboration between Eminem and Royce da 5'9" as part of the Bad Meets Evil series, but Royce was later replaced by Jay-Z.^[1] The original can be found on mixtapes and has leaked onto the internet.

[edit] Song Meaning

The song has different meanings to both artists. Jay-Z deals with his upbringing with no father and his mother's difficulty supporting him and how he had to sell drugs to feed himself, while Eminem talks about his controversy caused by his outlandish lyrics, how religious followers want to get rid of him and how parents have a hypocritical view of what they think he represents to children.

[edit] Reception & Criticism

Many fans and critics alike feel that Jay-Z was incredibly outshone by Eminem's verse, outlandish flow, and playing with syllables. Nas also noticed this and references it with the line "Eminem murdered you on your own shit" on the Jay-Z diss track "Ether" from "Stillmatic".