Producer Benny Blanco has revealed Rihanna’s Diamonds single could have been another big smash for Eminem, as he had recorded a track to the beat before losing the 2012 song to his “Love the Way You Lie” collaborator.
Blanco explains he, Stargate, and Sia had created the tune for either Kanye West or Lana Del Rey.
“Stargate’s like, ‘Yo, we’re giving this song to Rihanna. It’s going to go,'” Blanco recalled during an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music. “And I was like, ‘I don’t know, man. Should we keep the beat for Kanye? I don’t know about it.'”
He continued, “I remember, at the same time, I had given a beat CD like a month earlier to (music manager) Paul Rosenberg to give to Eminem. And apparently, Eminem had done a song to it, too. And I didn’t even know… So when it happened (was sold to Rihanna), Paul was like, ‘Man, Em had that beat on hold.’ I was like, ‘What? I didn’t even know.'”
However, Blanco was pleased with the way the song turned out with Rihanna: “I’m sitting there, and then I finally am like, ‘You know what, Stargate?’ I let go. I said, ‘You guys know better. Let’s do it.’ She cut the song. First of all, the second she cut the song, they were completely right. I was like, ‘This is the best song I’ve ever done.'”
And Kanye even got the chance to rap on the single as he was recruited for the “Diamonds” remix: “This is how life works, full circle. Kanye West does a remix to the song.”
