Trivia
- “Renegades” is the original version of “Renegade” by , featuring rather than JAY-Z.
- The song leaked before Royce decided to use it and appeared on unofficial mixtapes prior to its inclusion on Royce’s Build & Destroy mixtape.
- It was later omitted from the Build & Destroy project when the mixtape was reissued as a compilation album by Trouble Records on July 29, 2003.
Words from Royce Da 5’9”
“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.
But he sent it to Hov, and when Hov laid his vocals, it just took on a whole different form. I think he added, like, a different color to it because he kinda laid back on the beat. He kinda sat back in the pocket, as opposed to attacking it the way that me and Marshall do, and that made it a classic.