Nicki Minaj’s verse on Kanye West’s 2010 My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy hit “Monster” has become an iconic moment in hip-hop history, and a lot has been said about it in the years since. Amber Rose previously said in 2018 that Ye nearly cut Minaj’s contributions from the song, and Minaj also has her own version of how she almost didn’t make it onto the track. Now, Rose has spoken more about it, claiming that after Minaj recorded her verse, West said something along the lines of, “How the f*ck did you bring in a b*tch that killed me on my own song?”
Speaking about her upcoming album in a new interview on Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay’s Higher Learning podcast, Rose said, “Just know that this was not an overnight thing. I’ve been quiet, on purpose. I sat in the studio day and night. I have a good ear. I’ve A&R’d a bunch of amazing projects.”
That latter point piqued Lathan’s interest, so he asked for examples. Rose replied, “All my boyfriends, all of ’em.” Lathan asked, “You A&R’d for Ye?” Rose responded, “Absolutely! I put Nicki on ‘Monster.’ I put Nicki on ‘Monster.’ I put Nicki on ‘Monster,’ he didn’t know who Nicki was back then. I had Nicki pull up to the studio and I put her on ‘Monster.’
Rose continued, “She was still coming up, and I saw her in the studio and I said, ‘Oh my god, this b*tch is f*cking talented as hell.’ And then I went back to Kanye and I was like, ‘You need to get this girl Nicki on ‘Monster.’ And he was like, ‘Who? What? No. I’m not…” And I said, ‘Just let her pull up, what’s it going to hurt?’ […] She heard the song and then she came back the next day with the verse.”
Lathan then pointed out that West nearly didn’t include the verse on the song, which Rose said was “because it was too good.” She continued, “He told me that the same day. He’s like, ‘How the f*ck did you bring in a b*tch that killed me on my own song?'”
Check out the full interview above, with the West conversation starting at 54:12 into the video.
