Renegade: Jay Z and Eminem Transformed Hip Hop Over 21 Years Ago
For the past 21 years, Hip Hop heads have gone back and forth debating the classic song, Renegades off Jay-Z’s 2001 album, The Blueprint. Who won the battle, Eminem or Jay-Z? According to many, including Nas, Eminem got the best of the Brooklyn MC on his own shit. But 21 years later, is that really the case?
Going back over the song as many have done throughout the years, Renegade was not a battle but a verbal display of two MCs talking about two very different things. While both are regarded as Hip Hop royalty, Jay and Eminem are as different as night and day when stepping into the booth.
Eminem is a bonafide battle rapper who shines bright in that environment. He’s lyrical, a great storyteller, and his wordplay is one the best in the game. However, for many, Eminem doesn’t make the type of music the Hip Hop community can just blast in the car, talk about on stoops, or debate while in the hood.
Jay Z, on the other hand, well, he’s regarded as one of the best that ever did it. Jay has the wordplay but in a different way. Eminem is more in your face while Jay is the king of the double entendre. That’s what made this paring so special. It was two different styles coming together for a common goal.
Did Eminem murder Jay Z on his own shit? Yes and no. Don’t believe me, the proof is in the bars once you break them down. Here are a few lines from Jay’s first verse:
Motherfuckers
Say that I’m foolish I only talk about jewels (bling bling)
Do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?
See I’m influenced by the ghetto you ruined
That same dude you gave nothing, I made something doing
What I do through and through and
I give you the news, with a twist it’s just his ghetto point-of-view
The renegade, you been afraid
I penetrate pop culture, bring ’em a lot closer to the block where they
Pop toasters, and they live with they moms
Here are a few bars from Em’s first verse:
Since I’m in a position to talk to these kids and they listen
I ain’t no politician but I’ll kick it with ’em a minute
‘Cause see they call me a menace, and if the shoe fits I’ll wear it
But if it don’t, then y’all will swallow the truth grin and bear it
Now who’s the king of these rude ludicrous lucrative lyrics?
Who could inherit the title, put the youth in hysterics
Using his music to steer it, sharing his views and his merits?
But there’s a huge interference, they’re saying you shouldn’t hear it
Their first verses were more of an introduction to their rhyme style and how they’re both viewed by the masses. Jay spit bars saying that he’s more like a ghetto news reporter. Em bars were more focused on how America, mostly white people viewed him. Their messages were the same but their approach was just different.
Related: Hip Hop: The Undefeated Greatness of Eminem
Fast forward to their second verses and this is where the masses came up with the conclusion that Em murdered Jay. However, a closer will reveal just how different the two are in terms of flow and why it wasn’t as cut and dry as most believe.
Here are a few bars from Jay’s second verse:
I had to hustle, my back to the wall, ashy knuckles
Pockets filled with a lotta lint, not a cent
Gotta vent, lotta innocent lives lost on the project bench
What you hollerin’? Gotta pay rent, bring dollars in
By the bodega, iron under my coat
Feelin’ braver, durag wrappin’ my waves up, pockets full of hope
Here are a few bars from Em’s second verse:
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 a monger of hate and Satan a scatter-brained atheist
But that ain’t the case, see it’s a matter of taste
We as a people decide if Shady’s as bad as they say he is
And there it is. Em’s second verse was a masterpiece of lyrical exercise. But it still told a story of what he was going through at the time. For Jay, it was a poetic vision of life in the hood. Eminem was being crucified by the media for his lyrics. The older audience didn’t understand his lyrics. From firing shots at his daughter’s mother to threatening his own mother, Eminem was viewed as a villain. And to make matters worst, the black community, even to this day, can’t seem to understand just how dope Eminem is.
Renegade is a song that went well beyond a feature. It was a blank mural that became a masterpiece of personal storytelling by two of the best to ever do it. As Hip Hop fans, all we focused on at the time was a battle. But what we missed was the crafting of a Picasso-style painting. It wasn’t about who murdered who, it was two different worlds colliding on a stage that even to this day, fans still haven’t grasped what transpired 21 years ago.
While Jay will say that Em did get the best of him, the fact is, Eminem walked Jay and the listeners through his personal struggles. As someone who grew up in the environment that Jay did, I understood his verses a bit more than I did Eminem’s. I know firsthand what happens on those park benches. I know what happens when the family courts come searching for a father who’s not there. This was not a visual of black and white, it was a visual of pain.
In 2001, I was one of the ones who got caught up in the hoopla of who won this batter. But as I got older and really began to listen to the lyrics, the song took on a deeper meaning for me. I can identify with Eminem for his personal storytelling. That’s always been his bread and butter. As for Jay, well, he came from the same place I came from so his story hit home a bit harder.
There is no denying that Renegade is a Hip Hop classic. However, for many, it’s a classic because of the unspoken lyrical battle that took place. There was not a clear winner here, except for the fans.
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
