Released: October 29, 2002

Featuring: Freeway

Songwriter: Freeway Luis Resto Eminem JAY-Z

Producer: Eminem

[Intro: Jay Z]
Yeah, Renegade is back
Em, the beat is sick!
It's Young, Freeway, 8 Miles, let's go!

[Verse 1: Jay Z]
8 miles and runnin', got my seventh album droppin'
And my eighth album comin'
Feeding a thousand growling stomachs
But I can rewind the calendar back
Back when it was now or nothin'
People said I would amount to nothin'
That I had talent for nothin'
Said I would succumb to violence or be silenced by a gunman
I could just hear the folks now, "He got what he had comin'."
Now that my eighth album's comin' everybody's smilin'
Wanting somethin', claiming that they done somethin' for him
Got their Jay Z pom poms and their Hov uniform
Claiming they been runnin'
And tellin' everybody, like Martin Lawrence
'Bout how hot my rap performance was before I was who I was
Claiming that they threw it up before I threw it up
You what? Where was you before I blew this up?
I didn't see you in the courtroom when everybody was suin' us
I didn't see you in all black when everybody was suitin' up
Back on the block, getting it in, there wasn't no you with us

[Hook: Jay Z + Freeway]
8 miles and runnin', got my seventh album droppin'
And my eighth album comin'
Feeding a thousand growling stomachs, Free!
6 miles and runnin', got my fifth strip poppin'
And my first album comin', feeding twenty growling stomachs
8 miles and runnin', got my seventh album droppin'
And my eighth album comin'
Feeding a thousand growling stomachs, Free!
6 miles and runnin', got my fifth strip poppin'
And my first album comin', feeding twenty growling stomachs

[Verse 2: Freeway]
6 miles and runnin' in the Pontiac six thousand eighty six
Trans might shift while the engine run
Anyone tell your honor: "Give me one more chance."
And them smokers screaming, "One more gram!"
So I'ma bring 'em one
Only son to my pop, stick close to my mama
Keep toasters for drama, make Salat with my son
My son growin' and he learnin' a lot
That's when them toasters, when the burners will pop
Brain on your, um–brella, a nigga, tell 'em niggas
That's like the Biblical scripture
Look back, turn to salt, like the sinners
Most of your heartless and self-centered
Like Meshach and Mesha
Set up your brother ‘cause you jealous, nigga
The heat back, like you never left
I ever rep, cops watch every step
Six miles and runnin', dodgin' every trap
The rap gingerbread man
Cherish every precious breath, state P the second gat

[Hook: Jay Z + Freeway]
8 miles and runnin', got my seventh album droppin'
And my eighth album comin'
Feeding a thousand growling stomachs, Free!
6 miles and runnin', got my fifth strip poppin'
And my first album comin', feeding twenty growling stomachs
8 miles and runnin', got my seventh album droppin'
And my eighth album comin'
Feeding a thousand growling stomachs, Free!
6 miles and runnin', got my fifth strip poppin'
And my first album comin', feeding twenty growling stomachs

[Verse 3: Jay-Z]
Back when nobody would find he had talent
Nobody would sign me
Nobody believed in me, nobody but Mommy blindly
But how can she deny me? Me being the youngest runt
To come up outta her tummy, she got nothing but love for me
When niggas would one me, the industry shunned me
That's why I'm taking all the industry's money
Revenge is sweet honey, we run this
Young is the illest, Free is the future
Beans and Bleek is right now, we can see y'all 8 miles, nigga

[Hook: Jay Z + Freeway]
8 miles and runnin', got my seventh album droppin'
And my eighth album comin'
Feeding a thousand growling stomachs, Free!
6 miles and runnin', got my fifth strip poppin'
And my first album comin', feeding twenty growling stomachs
8 miles and runnin', got my seventh album droppin'
And my eighth album comin'
Feeding a thousand growling stomachs, Free!
6 miles and runnin', got my fifth strip poppin'
And my first album comin', feeding twenty growling stomachs

JAY-Z

Having sold over 100 million records worldwide, and holding the solo artist record of 14 Billboard 200 #1 albums, Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter is possibly the most talented, accomplished and respected rapper of all-time. He has released 13 studio albums and five collaborative albums over his 30-year career.

Three of his albums, Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint, and The Black Album, are considered landmarks in the genre, with all of them featured in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Hov has won 21 Grammy Awards from sixty-four nominations, making him the 10th most awarded artist of all-time.

Legendary for never writing down his lyrics, JAY-Z’s flow is considered one of the greatest to grace the genre, his wordplay and metaphorical ability is unmatched, and his live shows push the envelope of what it means to be a hip hop artist. His MTV Unplugged appearance introduced the idea of having a full band (The Roots) backing up a hip hop artist at major concerts, and during his 2004 documentary Fade to Black he doubled down, selling out Madison Square Garden (in mere minutes) while featuring an enormous live band performance.