Kanye West Made a Song With Bon Iver, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.’s Husband

Holy crap! Just a few days ago we were fantasizing about the promised Kanye/Rick Ross/Bon Iver collaboration; turns out, we were dreaming small. Kanye, keeping true to his G.O.O.D. Friday promise — new music from his circle of pals every Friday, on the Friday — let “Monster” go very late last week. On it: The aforementioned Iver and Ross, plus Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, and Benjamin Bronfman, a.k.a. M.I.A.’s better half. (For the record, the song is supposedly from Watch the Throne, a mini-album with Jay-Z that Kanye just dreamed up and will probably never happen.) It’s technically a standard posse cut, so Kanye knows not to get too fancy with the beat or chorus, and that means all focus is rightfully on a joyful string of shit-talking loosely related to the track’s title (Jay: “all I see is these fake fucks with no fangs / trying to draw blood from my ice cold veins”; Nicki: “first thing’s first, I’ll eat your brains”). Of course, the mind-boggling-ness of the versatility and pedigree of those making up this particular posse means that despite its loyalty to the conventions of the subgenre, “Monster” is a posse cut that’s operating on a higher level. And right now, Kanye’s making every new song an event.