Who Really Wrote “The Monster”?

Perhaps the biggest hit of 2014 thus far has been neurotically dark collaboration between Eminem and Rihanna "The Monster."  Perceived as a pseudo-sequel to their first two duets "Love the Way You Lie" and "Love the Way You Lie (Part 2)," "The Monster" is a disturbing and somewhat uncomfortable look into the mirror, and not exactly loving what you see.  After the original "Love the Way You Lie" became a hit I found that the hook had actually been written by Skylar Gray before she broke big.  I was also surprised to find out that another Rihanna hit, "Diamonds," was penned by a pre-famous Sia (think "Titanium").  After doing a little bit of homework, I found out that Rihanna's part on "The Monster" was also written by another KISS-FM artist who was just about to get her big break!  Check this out!

Cash Cash is experiencing some success right now with the song "Take Me Home."  Much like David Guetta or Calvin Harris, Cash Cash is NOT the vocalist on the track, just the producer.  The VOCALIST on the song is a chick named BeBe Rexha.  She was part of a Pete Wentz (of Fall Out Boy) side-project called Black Cards before going solo in 2012.  She was going through a tough time in the music industry and had just been dropped by her label, Island Def Jam.  Dealing with frustration and depression, Rexha found herself in a Harlem Recording Studio in a "dark place" both figuratively and literally.  She wrote a song called "Monster Under My Bed," and it sounded like this:

She claims that the moment she wrote it, she knew Eminem would be performing it.  The producer of the track, Frequency - who would go on to produce "The Monster" - got the track to the Director of A&R for Shady Records, Riggs Morales, who also loved the track.  He got it to Eminem while he was working on his historic Marshall Mathers LP II.  Eminem wrote verses around the hook, and then gave the hook to Rihanna.  When all the vocals were finalized, it turned into "The Monster" that we've heard a million times now.

And that's the story behind how "The Monster" was written...  Here is what Eminem and Rihanna did with the song: