Renegade

Album: The Blueprint (2001)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Originally recorded as a collaboration between Eminem and Royce da 5'9" for their Bad Meets Evil series, Royce was later replaced by Jay-Z. Hova's two verses find him recalling when he was selling drugs on the streets (thus becoming a renegade to society).

    Eminem, meanwhile, explains that he considers himself to be a renegade because of the public perception of his music and criticisms that he is a bad influence on children:

    See I'm a poet to some, a regular modern-day Shakespeare
    Jesus Christ, the King of these Latter-Day Saints here
    To shatter the picture in which of that as they paint me as
    As a monger of hate, satanist, scatter-brained atheist


    Eminem said in an annotation for the above four verses on the Rap Genius site: "When I'm writing, I'm in the syllable game. I'm connecting 5-6-7-8 syllable phrases where every syllable rhymes. I get heavy into that. When I start rapping something, and I think of more syllables that connect with it, sometimes I want to just keep the scheme going forever."

    "I've done it before in songs, where the syllable scheme of the first verse ends up being the syllable scheme of the second verse, and the third verse — all the way down. I do it because the lines start connecting and making sense. Once I find something and lock in, it comes out pretty quick."
  • This was included on Jay-Z's 2001 The Blueprint album. It was later included as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of Eminem's 2005 greatest hits album, Curtain Call: The Hits.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in Songs

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in SongsSong Writing

Elvis, Little Richard and Cheryl Cole have all sung about Teddy Bears, but there is also a terrifying Teddy song from 1932 and a touching trucker Teddy tune from 1976.

Michael Schenker

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

Edwin McCain

Edwin McCainSongwriter Interviews

"I'll Be" was what Edwin called his "Hail Mary" song. He says it proves "intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience."

Wang Chung Pick The Top Songs Of The '80s

Wang Chung Pick The Top Songs Of The '80sSongwriter Interviews

'80s music ambassadors Wang Chung pick their top tracks of the decade, explaining what makes each one so special.

Stephen Christian of Anberlin

Stephen Christian of AnberlinSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist for Anberlin breaks down "Impossible" and covers some tracks from their 2012 album Vital.

Philip Cody

Philip CodySongwriter Interviews

A talented lyricist, Philip helped revive Neil Sedaka's career with the words to "Laughter In The Rain" and "Bad Blood."