In true Kanye West fashion, his collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign, Vultures, did not materialize in time for its release date. Throughout the past month, the two have been actively promoting the album with a “Vultures Rave,” various listening sessions, and a pre-save link that has since disappeared. During this promotional rollout, Ty Dolla $ign shared a written tracklist, featuring heavily teased songs like the Backstreet Boys-sampling “Everybody.”
One song that particularly stands out on the tentative list of songs is “New Body,” a collaboration between Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign, and Nicki Minaj. While this song has yet to be released, it is over five years old. One of the most highly anticipated collaborations on Vultures, here is a brief history behind Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and Ty Dolla $ign’s “New Body.”
Kanye West & Nicki Minaj Have Not Worked Together in Many Years
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign had worked together on numerous occasions before teaming up for a full-length album. On the other hand, Ye and Nicki Minaj have not worked together on a song in many years. The two first teamed up on “Monster” from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, where Minaj delivered arguably her most iconic verse. Also on the album was “Dark Fantasy,” which features a spoken introduction from Minaj. Her 2010 debut, Pink Friday arrived the same day as Kanye’s album, featuring West on the song “Blazin’.” In 2018, a voice note from Nicki Minaj appeared on “Violent Crimes” from West’s Ye. Later that year, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj both featured on “Mama” from 6ix9ine’s debut album, Dummy Boy.
Initially Intended For Yandhi
Following Kanye West’s series of 7-track collaborative albums, he began to tease yet another new album, titled Yandhi. West announced that the supposed sequel to Yeezus would arrive on September 29, 2018. Of course, the album never officially materialized but ended up transforming into the gospel-centric Jesus Is King. Yandhi ended up leaking almost in its entirety in 2019, with many of its tracks being non-secular versions of songs from Jesus Is King. Among these tracks were “I Love It,” Teyana Taylor’s “We Got Love,” and “New Body” featuring Nicki Minaj. While previewed at Jesus is King listening parties, "New Body" remained unreleased and highly anticipated, with many of the leaks eventually receiving releases. West, Minaj, and Ty Dolla $ign had even filmed a music video for the song.
During a TV interview, Kanye explained the concept behind the song. He says, “I’m taking two stigmas at once because I love taking stigmas and flipping them to positive. Negative energy to a positive. One of the stigmas is that men, the more people we sleep with the higher our score goes. With a woman, the more people they sleep with, people they sleep with, people consider that to be, the lower their score goes.”
The majority of Yandhi’s leaks were reconfigured as the non-explicit Jesus Is King. “New Body” was noticeably missing from the tracklist. Around that time, Nicki Minaj sat down with The Shade Room, revealing new insight into the song’s status. “What’s funny is that I did a song with Kanye, that he now wants to turn into a gospel song.” She elaborated, “I done wrote three different verses, chile, and I don’t know. We ain’t seeing eye to eye on it.”
An Unreleased Fan Favorite
In the time since its initial leak, “New Body” has become a fan favorite among Kanye West and Nicki Minaj fans. The song even went viral on TikTok in 2020, prompting Nicki Minaj to advocate for its release. She even encouraged her fans to spam Kim Kardashian’s “comments everyday” if they wanted it to be released. Ty Dolla $ign also advocated for the release of “New Body." That same year, his song “Status” included a lyric where he said, “I told Ye to drop the OG ‘New Body’.” With the song’s uncertain future as a leak and a reworked gospel song, it was still highly anticipated by both featured artists and hardcore fans.
Nicki Minaj Shuts Down Official Release
While promoting their upcoming album, Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign have previewed “New Body” during various listening sessions. These snippets included the original Nicki Minaj guest verse. After the album did not surface in time for its December 15 release date, Kanye West shared a screenshot of a message to Nicki Minaj, asking her to clear her verse for “New Body.” Minaj took to Instagram Live to speak about the status of the song. She said, “Regarding Kanye, that train has left the station. No disrespect in any way. I just put out a brand-new album. Why would I put out a song that has been out for three years?”
After declining his request to clear “New Body,” Kanye responded to Nicki Minaj during a listening session. At the same event where he spewed antisemitic remarks and sent jabs at Jay-Z and Drake, he said, “I made [Nicki Minaj] rewrite her verse 3 times for ‘Monster,’ I supported her career.” Fans may finally get "New Body" with the scheduled release of Vultures on December 31. However, it is highly unlikely for the song to be released in its original form, featuring a verse from Nicki Minaj.