“Rihanna Diamonds Remix” can refer to several fundamentally different records. There is Rihanna’s label-sanctioned remix featuring Kanye West, an official collection of dance remixes, and a wave of rappers’ unofficial reworks over the original instrumental. One of those independent versions—credited variously to Maino, the Mafia, PUSH!, Lucky Don and Twigg Martin—circulated on music blogs in early November 2012.
They are not the same release. The Maino-associated track appeared first, on November 2, but it was not issued by Rihanna or Island Def Jam and should not be described as an official Rihanna collaboration. Rihanna’s authorized Kanye West remix followed on November 16, 2012, with confirmation on her own website.
The original record beneath every remix
Rihanna released “Diamonds” in September 2012 as the lead single from Unapologetic. Sia Furler wrote the lyric and topline with producers Benjamin “Benny Blanco” Levin and Stargate members Mikkel Storleer Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen. The Recording Academy’s Rihanna singles retrospective identifies Sia, Stargate and Blanco as the creative team behind the recording.
The song marked a tonal adjustment. Rihanna’s previous album cycle had been driven by the ecstatic momentum of “We Found Love,” but “Diamonds” moves at a statelier pace. Its drums land heavily, the keyboard pattern glows rather than races, and the vocal is arranged around repetition. Sia’s composition supplies a broad image—two people shining together—that Rihanna delivers with a grainier, more grounded tone than the song’s celestial language might suggest.
That is musical interpretation. The track’s public scale is measurable: “Diamonds” became Rihanna’s 12th U.S. No. 1 and helped launch Unapologetic, her first album to top the Billboard 200. The song’s success made its instrumental an immediate target for rap verses, freestyles and club reconstruction.
Maino and the Mafia moved first
On November 2, 2012, several hip-hop sites posted a “Diamonds” remix by Maino and his Brooklyn collective, the Mafia. Rap Radar’s contemporary item said the group had added verses to Rihanna’s hit; HipHop-N-More dated the recording the same day and billed it to Maino and the Mafia. HotNewHipHop’s catalog entry likewise characterizes it as Maino with the Mafia.
Member billing varies between surviving posts and uploads. Maino, PUSH!—often stylized P.U.S.H.!—Lucky Don and Twigg Martin are the names most commonly attached to the circulating version. Some pages compress those performers into “The Mafia,” while others present each as a featured artist. That inconsistency is characteristic of a blog-era crew remix, not evidence of multiple official Rihanna editions.
The recording uses the recognizable “Diamonds” framework and inserts new rap sections. It functions as a posse rework: Rihanna’s hook provides the established center, while the rappers use the open space to introduce their own voices and affiliations. In cultural terms, it belongs to the long hip-hop practice of recording new verses over a current hit. Such tracks could build attention for a crew without requiring the original artist to participate.
Nothing in Rihanna’s official catalog identifies Maino or the Mafia as featured performers on “Diamonds.” No contemporaneous announcement from Rihanna or Island Def Jam endorses that version, and it does not appear among the label’s commercial editions. Describing it as “Rihanna featuring Maino” therefore creates a collaboration that the available release record does not establish.
This does not mean the track was necessarily a secret “leak.” It was openly publicized as new music by the rappers and hip-hop blogs. The precise description is an unofficial remix or freestyle over Rihanna’s song: publicly circulated, but not an official Rihanna release.
The authorized Kanye West remix
Two weeks later, Rihanna’s own channels removed any ambiguity about a different version. On November 16, her official website posted “New Music: ‘Diamonds’ Remix ft Kanye West”. The same day, The Fader called it a Rihanna-sanctioned remix, and a commercial listing remains on Apple Music under Rihanna’s name with Island Def Jam copyright information.
West opens that version with a substantial new verse before the familiar song resumes. His writing jumps among luxury, celebrity, self-regard and recent events, including New York’s recovery after Hurricane Sandy. The feature changes the track’s perspective: Rihanna’s original presents radiance as something shared, while West’s entrance makes brilliance a boast about individual visibility. That contrast is an interpretation of the performances, but the remix’s official status is documented by the artist announcement and label-backed commercial release.
The date sequence explains much of the later confusion. Maino and the Mafia’s version appeared November 2. Rihanna and West’s appeared November 16. A page from early November calling the Maino cut a “Diamonds remix” was not misidentifying the later Kanye release; it was covering a separate rework before Rihanna’s official remix existed.
Dance remixes form a third branch
“Diamonds” also received authorized electronic remixes from Dave Audé, Bimbo Jones, Congorock, Gregor Salto and Jacob Plant. These versions reconfigured tempo, bass and structure for clubs rather than adding guest rap verses. Apple Music’s official Diamonds (Remixes) collection distinguishes several of those mixes and describes their divergent dance-floor approaches.
That collection means even the phrase “official Diamonds remix” is incomplete without a mix name. The Kanye West version is the official featured-vocal remix; the Dave Audé and Bimbo Jones versions are among the official dance remixes; Maino and the Mafia’s is an unofficial rap rework. All depend on the same underlying composition, but they occupy different positions in Rihanna’s discography.
The distinction also affects credits. Sia, Blanco, Eriksen and Hermansen remain the foundational writers of “Diamonds.” An authorized feature can add new authorship associated with the guest material, and dance remixers receive mix-specific billing. An unofficial crew version may contain newly written verses, but that does not convert its performers into credited collaborators on Rihanna’s master recording.
How an unofficial upload becomes misleading
The early-2010s music-blog system encouraged imprecise titles. A post needed recognizable search terms, so a crew remix might be labeled “Rihanna feat. Maino” even when Rihanna had not invited or approved the guests. File names then migrated to aggregators and YouTube, shedding the explanatory context that once surrounded them.
A surviving YouTube upload of the Maino version is credited to an independent DJ account rather than Rihanna, Def Jam, Maino’s verified artist channel or another clearly demonstrated rights holder. Its existence documents circulation, not authorization. Embedding it as an official video would repeat the metadata problem, so no YouTube link is appropriate here.
The same caution applies to artwork. Images combining Rihanna’s portrait with several typed names are often uploader-made thumbnails, not label covers. The official Kanye single has a commercial catalog trail; the Mafia rework was promoted through editorial posts rather than a verified Rihanna product page.
What each version says about a 2012 hit
The speed of the remixes demonstrates how completely “Diamonds” entered popular culture. Its spacious production offered rappers room to intervene, its hook was instantly identifiable, and its metaphor could support romance, triumph or conspicuous self-celebration. Maino’s crew treated the record as shared contemporary material; West treated an official invitation as an opportunity to make a global pop ballad briefly orbit his persona; dance producers rebuilt it for another physical setting.
None of those afterlives should obscure Rihanna’s performance. Her vocal is the stable element through most authorized versions and the borrowed anchor of the unofficial ones. The song’s durability comes from the tension between grand imagery and an unusually direct melody.
For the specific Maino–Mafia recording that surfaced in early November, November 2, 2012 is the defining date. It identifies the first documented public event attached to that rework and keeps it separate from Rihanna’s November 16 announcement. The accurate catalog note is concise: an unofficial Maino and Mafia remix of Rihanna’s “Diamonds,” openly circulated by hip-hop outlets, followed two weeks later by Rihanna’s distinct, official Kanye West remix.