Kanye West Debuts 'Monster,' With Jay-Z and Bon Iver

Kanye West delivered on his "G.O.O.D. Friday" promise last week by unveiling a brand new song called "Monster," featuring Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross and Bon Iver. The all-star track is the first from a five-song EP called Watch the Throne that Kanye and Jay-Z recorded. “Everyone knows I'm a motherfucking monster,” Jay-Z raps on his verse, referencing “Sasquatch, Godzilla, King Kong, Loch Ness, goblin, ghoul, a zombie with no conscience.” Download the radio edit of "Monster" at Kanye University. and the explicit version at Nah Right.

Kanye and Jay-Z previously teamed for the remix of West's "Power," which will likely also appear on Watch the Throne. "Monster" is also one of at least 10 tracks Kanye recorded with indie-folk singer Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. “I called [Vernon] and we ended up becoming like really good friends, playing basketball together everyday, and going into the back studio and just recording his parts,” West told Rolling Stone when he visited our offices. “He's similar to me, where he just does shit just so people would be like, 'Oh shit, how did you do that? How did that happen?' He's just a really cool guy to be around.” Kanye will release his still-untitled new album on November 16th, but promises new songs every Friday until Christmas.

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

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