Nicki Minaj Says She Convinced Kanye West to Keep 'Monster' on His Album

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Nicki Minaj says her Kanye West collaboration "Monster" nearly missed the cut on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Marking this week's seventh anniversary since the song's release, Minaj said on Instagram she "fought" to "convince" Ye to keep the track, which arguably turned out to be one of her breakout moments. 

"Kanye called me to tell me [Jay-Z] put a verse on this song [and] that he was still deciding if he would put it on his album," she wrote. "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!"

She continued: "Kanye, thank you for being the genius you are. You always put others first. I fought [you] 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."

"Monster," which also featured Jay-Z, Rick Ross and Bon Iver, was released in October 2010 leading up to the album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which arrived the following month.

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

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