“Monster” by Kanye West featuring Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Bon Iver & Nicki Minaj and Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver

"Monster" was the posse cut from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West's fifth album, and it got out early: West first handed it away through GOOD Friday, his weekly free-music giveaway to hype the record, before it went on sale on October 23 as the third single. Jay-Z, Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj all rap on it, indie folk outfit Bon Iver comes along too, and all five acts share the writing credit; West produced it with Mike Dean and Plain Pat, and Jeff Bhasker plays piano.

The beat is murky and drum-heavy, the rhymes soaked in horror movies, and critics reached for Michael Jackson's "Thriller". While they bickered over whether West or Jay-Z came out ahead, Minaj's verse drew the loudest acclaim. It debuted at 18 on the Hot 100, its peak, and Jake Nava's zombie-strewn video wound up banned from MTV.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.