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Bad Meets Evil is an American hip hop duo consisting of rappers Royce da 5'9" (bad) and Eminem (evil). Bad meets Evil was formed in 1997 thanks to duo's mutual friend Proof. It was formed after Royce featured on "Bad Meets Evil" for Eminem's major label debut The Slim Shady LP (1999). Their discography consists of one extended play and four singles. In 1999, the duo released a double non-album singles, "Nuttin' to Do" and "Scary Movies"; the former peaked at 36 on the Hot Rap Songs chart, while the latter peaked at 63 on the UK Singles Chart and was featured on the soundtrack of the 2000 horror comedy parody film Scary Movie.
The duo broke up after a feud between Royce and the members of Eminem's group D12. The feud ended when Proof, a D12 member and Eminem's best friend—as well as a friend of Royce's -- died in 2006. After Royce's supergroup Slaughterhouse signed to the Eminem-founded label Shady Records, a reunion of Bad Meets Evil followed with the extended play Hell: The Sequel (2011), which reached number one on the US Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). The lead single "Fast Lane" peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the second single "Lighters", featuring Bruno Mars, peaked at number four on the same chart.
Eminem met Royce Da 5'9 in 1997 when Royce was opening for Usher at the Palladium. Eminem and Royce da 5'9", became quick friends before Eminem's rise to fame, and collaborated on the track which led to the duo's foundation, "Bad Meets Evil", for Eminem's 1999 major label debut The Slim Shady LP. The duo's first work, a 1999 double-single, which was originally recorded in 1998, consisting of "Nuttin' to Do" and "Scary Movies", achieved respectable chart success, peaking at 36 on the Hot Rap Songs chart, while the latter peaked at 63 on the UK Singles Chart. A year later, Scary Movies was featured on the soundtrack of the horror comedy parody film Scary Movie.
"Renegade" was originally a song featuring Eminem recorded for Royce's 2002 debut Rock City, but Royce's verses were later replaced with Jay-Z's for his 2001 album The Blueprint. Jay-Z contacted Eminem for a collaboration and beat while the song was being made. Limited in time for production, Eminem sent Jay-Z the beat for "Renegade" with approval from Royce. However, Eminem was still featured on Royce's Rock City album, on a song of the same name.
Dr. Dre heard one of Royce's mixtapes through Eminem, deciding to sign him to Aftermath Entertainment. Eminem secured him a ghostwriting position on Dre's 2001. After his manager Kino stated: "I’ve seen Em sit Dre down like a pupil and coach him on rhymes" on a phone interview, Dr. Dre requested that Royce cut ties with his manager. Royce refused to fire his manager, thus his relationship with Dre ended.
After Royce turned down Eminem's offer to join his Anger Management Tour as a hype man, Proof, member of Eminem's band D12 and his best friend, also a good friend of Royce's, took the place. Later, Royce wanted to continue working with Eminem, who was busy working with D12, which lead Royce to believe that D12 was "souring" his relationship with Eminem. A feud with a series of diss tracks followed, resulting in the duo's break up.
In late 2003, D12's Proof confronted Royce outside a club in Detroit. Violence erupted between the rappers' entourage, leading to the police being called, and Proof and Royce's arrest. The two were detained overnight in adjacent cells where they talked out their differences and ended the feud. Royce and Eminem reconciled after Proof's death in 2006. Eminem said: "I think after we lost Proof we realized how stupid this beef shit is."
In 2011, Royce's supergroup Slaughterhouse signed to Eminem's Shady Records. This led to a reunion of Bad Meets Evil with the extended play Hell: The Sequel, released on June 14, 2011 after 11 years of inactivity in the group. A chart success, it peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).
"Fast Lane" was released on May 3, 2011 as the lead single. It was recorded by Mike Strange at Effigy Studios (Ferndale, Michigan). Recorded a few months before its release, the song was written by Eminem, Royce da 5'9" and Sly "Pyper" Jordan, who also sings the chorus to the song. Eminem requested that Sly perform the chorus, after hearing Dr. Dre's "Kush". Supa Dups and Jason "JG" Gilbert produced the song and Eminem and Mike Strange mixed the song. JG and Supa Dups also sample their own vocals. According to Supa Dups, he was asked to make a beat with JG, without knowing it was for Bad Meets Evil. He said that " didn't even have Eminem in mind ." According to this interview with Mixtape Daily, Supa Dups had little knowledge about the project, but simply submitted the beat to Eminem- Months after recording the song, on April 28, 2011, when it leaked onto the Internet, Supa Dups was impressed by the finished version, lyrically, and was proud to have participated in the project. The song peaked at number 34 on the Hot 100 chart.
The second single, "Lighters", was originally intended to be featured on Royce's fifth studio album, Success Is Certain. It was produced solely by Rochester, NY producer Battle Roy. After Royce had presented the track to Eminem, he was inspired to write and record the first verse, prompting Royce to write his the day afterwards. Bad Meets Evil then flew to Los Angeles, where R&B and pop singer Bruno Mars heard the song. Eminem and Mars then made minor changes to the musical arrangement. The song was recorded at Effigy Studios by Strange, Isolation Studios by Asar and Levcon Studios (Los Angeles, California) by Ari Levine of The Smeezingtons, a music production and songwriting group consisting of Philip Lawrence and Mars. Eminem, The Smeezingtons and Battle Roy produced the song. Battle Roy and Joe Strange also engineered the song. Luis Resto provided additional keyboards for the song. On May 25, 2011, when the album track listing of Hell: The Sequel was announced, "Lighters" was revealed to the public to feature Mars. "Lighters" hit contemporary hit radio on July 5, 2011 as the second single from the EP. "Lighters" performed better on the charts than "Fast Lane", peaking at number four on the Hot 100 chart.
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