Bad Meets Evil

Bad Meets Evil

Bad Meets Evil is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan that consists of rappers Eminem and Royce da 5'9". They are best known for collaborating on a self-titled song that appeared on Eminem's major-label debut album The Slim Shady LP in 1999 and their early association with Dr. Dre and his label Aftermath Entertainment.

The duo recorded numerous well received underground songs including the popular song "Renegade" which would later be used on Jay-Z's The Blueprint album with Royce's verses replaced by Jay-Z. They have also recorded numerous freestyles together, including a 12-minute long battle. Footage of a Bad Meets Evil concert filmed in September 1998 in Boston at the Lyricist Lounge has also been leaked onto the internet.

Bad Meets Evil split up in early 2000s, after Royce fell out with Eminem's group, D12. They have since reunited and released their EP Hell: The Sequel on June 14, 2011.

Music career

Origin

Royce da 5'9" and Eminem both grew up in Detroit and were mutual friends of late rapper Proof. Royce's then manager introduced him to Eminem at a show in 1997. Their chemistry encouraged them to form a group in which Royce covers the "Bad" part and Eminem the "Evil" part. They recorded and released several tracks together. Eminem would later sign a solo deal with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. On his major-label debut album, The Slim Shady LP, he featured Royce on the song "Bad Meets Evil".

While working on Dr. Dre's album 2001, Eminem introduced Royce to Dr. Dre and secured him a ghostwriting position on the album. Royce wrote and appeared on the first and original version of "Xxplosive" (entitled "Way I Be Pimping"), he also wrote "The Message". Royce wrote several tracks such as "The Throne Is Mine" and "Stay In Your Place" which were later cut from the final track list. The tracks have been leaked later on several mixtapes, including Pretox. Royce's then manager revealed that Royce was involved in writing for Dr. Dre, he then requested that Royce cut ties with his manager. Royce refused to fire his manager and his relationship with Dre ended resulting in Bad Meets Evil group work to dissolve.

Disbandment

An altercation would later occur between Royce Da 5'9" and Eminem's childhood friends rap group D12, prompting Eminem and Royce to cut off any connections. Royce has since released some tracks dissing D12 minus Eminem. D12 (minus Eminem) have released tracks dissing Royce Da 5'9" and his M.I.C. Records. The fight continued until 2005 and would officially be resolved in 2008.

Royce and Eminem reconciled soon after the shooting of their mutual friend and fellow rapper Proof in 2006. Before his death, Proof had been trying to sort things out between D12 and Royce. In 2008 Royce and D12 announced that they have squashed their "beef", and Royce has appeared on the D12 mixtapes Return of the Dozen Vol. 1 in 2008, and Return of the Dozen Vol. 2 in 2011. He also appeared on mixtapes and albums by D12 rappers Kuniva and Bizarre. In 2007 Royce expressed in interviews that Eminem and himself have ended their feud and have been talking over the phone. A song titled "See You in Hell", a planned sequel to "Bad Meets Evil", was rumored to be released either on Eminem's Relapse or Recovery.

Reunion

In 2010, it was announced that Eminem was in the process of signing Slaughterhouse, a rap group of which Royce is a member. The group together with Royce later appeared on a bonus track for Eminem's Recovery album titled "Session One". The deal was finalized in 2011. The two rappers started rapping together and two of their songs, "Living Proof" and "Echo", were leaked. They later appeared on another song together, this time with the new Shady Records team, Slaughterhouse and Yelawolf on "2.0 Boys", which is also titled "Game Over". Most recently a song titled "Fast Lane" was leaked to the internet, though it became the lead single on their latest EP while becoming their first top 40 hit as a group. The album was released on June 14, 2011.

Eminem:

"Royce and I started hanging out again and inevitably that led us back into the studio. At first we were just seeing where it went without any real goal in mind, but the songs started to come together crazy, so here we are."

Royce da 5'9":

"I'm excited to see this project come to fruition considering the long lapse in time between when we worked before and now. We had a blast doing it and we just hope everyone enjoys it while we're working on the 'Monster' that will be the Slaughterhouse album."

Discography

Extended plays

Title	EP details	Peak chart positions
		US	CAN	UK
Hell: The Sequel	Released: June 13, 2011 Label: Shady, Interscope Formats: CD, MD	1	—	7

Singles

Year	Song	Peak chart positions				Album
		US	AUS	CAN	UK
1999	"Nuttin' to Do / Scary Movies"	—	—	—	63	Non-album single
2011	"Fast Lane"	32	57	50	68	Hell: The Sequel
	"Lighters" (featuring Bruno Mars)	—	—	—	37
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or receive certification.

Music videos

2011: "Fast Lane"

Appearances together

Song	Album	Performers	Producers	Year
"Bad Meets Evil"	The Slim Shady LP	Eminem	Bass Brothers, Eminem	1999
"She's the One"	–	Bad Meets Evil	The Neptunes	2000
"Renegade"	–	Bad Meets Evil	Eminem	2000
"What the Beat"	The Professional 2	DJ Clue? featuring Method Man	DJ Clue?, Duro	2001
"Rock City"	Rock City	Royce da 5'9"	Red Spyda	2002
"Session One"	Recovery	Eminem featuring Slaughterhouse	Just Blaze	2010
"2.0 Boys"/"Game Over"	–	Eminem, Slaughterhouse, Yelawolf	WillPower, KP, Eminem	2011
"Writer's Block"	Success Is Certain	Royce da 5'9"	StreetRunner, Sarom Soundz	2011