“Renegade” serves as a “fuck you” to critics who said JAY-Z had forgotten his ghetto roots with his new found riches, and moralizers who said Eminem was a bad influence on children.

This was considered a major coup for Eminem, who had released The Marshall Mathers LP a year earlier to widespread controversy. Not only was Em the only guest rapper on the whole album, but he produced the beat (to which a song with Detroit rapper Royce Da 5'9" had already been recorded.)

The widespread perception, popularized by Nas, was that Eminem killed Jay, but that’s debatable, Em spits very in-your-face, overt punchlines, while Jay drops metaphors, multiple entendre gems that can only be appreciated by taking a closer look. However, Jay admitted in an interview that Em’s verse was better, he stated -

“No, I think Eminem is very intelligent rapper… It’s just, when you make 4000 songs.. I’m constant collaborator, you know and… some people gonna have better days. It’s just the way it is. But if we count the amount as the competitor and if we count the amount of records that I’ve been on versus people who had better performances then it’s gonna be 400 to 3.”

Rebelliously spelled “Renagade” on the back of The Blueprint.