Trivia
- The original version of “Renegade” by featuring Eminem was self-released by Royce on June 3, 2003, on his mixtape Build and Destroy. The song was later omitted when the mixtape was reissued as a compilation album by Trouble Records on July 29, 2003.
- Just three months after the song’s release, used it to attack ’s credibility on his legendary diss track “Ether,” mocking him with the line, “Eminem murdered you on your own shit.”
Words from JAY-Z and Royce Da 5’9”
“[Does it bother me that people say Eminem murdered me on my own shit?] No. I think he’s a very intelligent rapper. It’s just, when you make 4,000 songs, I’m a constant collaborator, some people are going to have better days. It’s just the way it is. But as a competitor, if we count the amount of records that I’ve been on versus people who’ve had better performances, then it’s going to be like 400 to 3. But I’m just really trying to make a great record. I don’t get a person and hope they have a bad performance.
“We did “Rock City” and “Renegade.” I actually chose “Rock City” because we felt like it could be more of a single. And honestly, “Renegade” was so similar to things that we’d done already, so I think we were just looking for something else. So when we took my vocals off and he sent it to Jay, I remember [Em] calling me and saying, “Listen, Hov just called me. I’ve been running around super busy. I wasn’t able to do the last thing he asked me to do. Are you cool with me sending him ‘Renegade’?” I was like, “What? Thank you for even asking me, because it’s not even my decision, it’s no longer my record.” So I thought that was real of him to even ask me that.