Nicki Minaj Had to Convince Kanye to Keep ‘Monster’ on His Album Because He Was Afraid of Being Overshadowed

On Tuesday, Nicki Minaj took a break from serving lewks on her Instagram to regale her followers with the story behind her epic verse on “Monster,” easily considered one of the best verses in rap music history. This week is the 7 year anniversary of the verse dropping.

According to Minaj, she and West had a hour-long phone call where she had to assuage his fears that the “verse would end up being the talk of the album.”

7 year anniversary of #Monster Kanye called me to tell me Jay put a verse on this song & that he was still deciding if he would put it on his album. Haha. It was like an hour long call where I tried to convince him to let the song stay on his album. He felt this verse would end up being the talk of the album. I said: YOU’RE KANYE WEST!!!! 💞 I became the first female rapper to perform @ Yankee Stadium on the JAY/Eminem stadium tour. When I saw him, Jay said: “when u got so nice”? I said: “I been nice”! Ha! Kanye, thank you for being the genius you are. You always put others first. I fought u every step of the way but it worked out. (He wanted me to add more of that growling monster voice and I felt it was over kill.) He wouldn’t give in. In the end, maybe he was right. Ha! – this song featured Barbie and Roman. Chyna was my stunt double in the video. (Due to her ASSets). Amber had spoken highly of me to Ye n pushed for him to meet with me. The rest is history. Ye, Jay, Em…All 3 of them helped me in some way. Love

A post shared by Barbie® (@nickiminaj) on Oct 24, 2017 at 1:48pm PDT

Minaj also said that Amber Rose was the one who pushed West to meet with Minaj, leading to the appearance.

Thank you for everyone who brought us this verse, we are truly #blessed.

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Photography: GettyImages/ Johnny Nunez