Fans get to peek behind the curtain.

Nicki Minaj’s verse on “Monster” is the stuff of legend. She bodied the likes of Kanye West and JAY-Z, and proved herself to be one of the best female emcees of all time. Today, Minaj’s most vocal critics are in agreeance that she did her thing on the 2010 single. The reverence that the genre has for “Monster” is what makes the recent leak so intriguing. A brief snippet of Nicki Minaj’s original verse leaked online on August 19. The leak is notable because Kanye West claimed to have made the rapper rewrite her verse multiple times.

The snippet is significantly shorter than the final Nicki Minaj verse, but the similarities are obvious. The rhyme scheme is similar, but the opening lines are different. “Go get them eggs and ham, they greener than doc Suess,” she raps. The lines that follow match the final version, with references to “Barbie” and the killer doll Chucky. The delivery, however, is much less eccentric. It’s clear that Nicki Minaj decided to amp up her personality when recording the final version, and it was to the song’s benefit. The “Monster” verse gained relevance again in December 2023, when Kanye West and Nicki Minaj got into a very public spat.

Nicki Minaj’s Verse Was Almost Cut From The Song

Nicki Minaj Shuts Down Kanye West Collab After He Asks for It to Be on New Album

Kanye West asked Minaj’s permission to release their collab “New Body,” but the latter refused. West then criticized Minaj during a listening sessions. “I made that girl rewrite her verse 3 times for ‘Monster,’ he stated. “I supported her career. So I don’t know what it is.” Nicki Minaj took to social media to clarify her stance on “New Body” and the rejected clearance. She felt the window for the song had come and gone, since she recorded her verse three years prior.

“Regarding Kanye, that train has left the station,” Minaj explained to her fans. “No disrespect in any way, I just put out a brand new album. Why would I put out a song that’s been out for 3 years? Come on guys.” Ironically, Nicki Minaj had to fight to get “Monster” verse on West’s album back in 2010. “It was like an hour long call where I tried to convince him to let the song stay on his album,” she wrote on IG. “He felt this verse would end up being the talk of the album.” West’s instincts proved correct, and the rest was history.