Royce Da 5’9" Explains Why Jay Z Replaced Him On 'Renegade'

'Renegade' ended up as a Jay Z featuring Eminem track on Hov's 2001 album The Blueprint.

But it started as a Shady and Royce Da 5'9 cut.

In a new interview with The Breakfast Club, Royce describes the song's genesis. He also makes clear that while Jay Z's vocals replaced his vocals, it wasn't anything like a reference track situation.

“Me and Em did the song first. We weren’t going to use it. We did two records for my album that I had where I was signed to Sony,” explained Royce. “What did those two records. We did the song called ‘Rock City,’ and we did ‘Renegade.’ We decided not to use ‘Renegade,’ because we could only use one. Interscope was only going to clear him for one.” Hov had been asking Em for a few albums to get on some stuff," He continued. "So Em called me like, ‘What do you think about me giving this to Jay Z? Because I’m not going to keep telling him no.’ Because We looked up to Jay Z. It was a song that was just sitting. So we took my vocals off, he sent it to Jay, and Jay put his verses in it. Now it’s their song. That's why it's different from a reference track.