Ryan Daniel Montgomery, better known by his stage name Royce 5'9", is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. (Photo : YouTube/ The Breakfast Power Club)
"Renegade," the only song that features Jay-Z and Eminem, two GOAT-level rappers in their peak at the time, appears to have been originally a work of Royce. It was then taken by Eminem after getting blocked by a label and given to Jay-Z as an endowment.
According to DJ Booth, the song got featured on Jay Z's classic "Blueprint" album and later immortalized by Nas on "Ether" when he rapped that Eminem had "murdered Jay-Z in his own sh*t." The rest was left out for interested parties to argue whether or not Jay-Z had indeed been murdered by Eminem.
To hardcore rap fans, this did not come as a surprise because there has been another version of "Renegade" online featuring Eminem and Royce Da 5'9. The version was described as the "Original" and it was not until Royce's interview on The Breakfast Club that the full story of how the song ended up in Jay Z's hands was revealed.
Apparently, Royce disclosed how he turned down signing a contract with Dr. Dre and how he instead went for "Tommy Boy's" money, which led him to "Columbia." He and Eminem were partners back then, but "Interscope," his record label, only allowed Royce to feature one Eminem song on his album, All Hip-Hop reported.
Due to the limitation, Royce was forced to choose between "Rock city" and "Renegade." The final pick was "Rock City" and so "Renegade" remained frozen. Altogether, Jay-Z wanted to feature Eminem on one project because he was well aware that the song would not get released.
Eminem proceeded to ask Royce if he would give the song to Jay-Z and he agreed. Subsequently, Royce vocals were removed from the song and the final composition tweaked a bit.
To sum it all up, "Renegade" was in the beginning, Royce's song, but it was blocked by his label prompting him to give it up to Eminem, who in turn gave it to Jay-Z. The project was then later used to fuel hip-hop's most high-profile beef, proving the argument that Eminem did beat Jay Z "in his own Sh*t."
Here is a clip of the original "Renegade" version:
