In April 2021, music producerDigital Nas was invited to work with West in Los Angeles after West had heard some of his songs throughMowalola Ogunlesi, who is the design director for West'sYeezy Gap collaboration.[1] Digital Nas gave West a folder of 150 beats, of which West freestyled over approximately 60 of them.[1] Out of those 60 that made the album was two – "Junya" and "Remote Control", with four of them originally expected to make the track listing. Talking about the songs, Digital Nas said: "That sound was so mantra-like. It was just simple. It was like a feeling. [Ye and I] call it monk music".[1]
Young Thug's feature on the track came about after warning West that their friendship would come to an end if he was not to be included on the album, saying "I just hit Kanye like, 'Bro, if I ain't on the album, we are not speaking". Young Thug clarified that his contribution to the song was not inspired or instructed by West.[2][3][4]
American rapperSoulja Boy originally recorded a verse for the track, although he was not included on the final version of the song. Following the album's release, Soulja Boy shared a snippet of his verse on Instagram, with the caption of the post saying "Fuck Kanye". Soulja Boy expressed distaste towards West secretly taking his verse off, posting a series of tweets aimed at West, saying that "if he didn’t like the verse he should have said that".[5][6] On November 5, 2021, in an interview withN.O.R.E. onDrink Champs, West said that he believed that Soulja Boy is one of the top 5 most influential artists, and when asked why he was taken offDonda, West joked "You ain't hear that verse?". N.O.R.E. asked "The verse wasn't good?", and West followed up with "Nah, I'll tell you what though, Soulja Boy is the future,Future the future...".[7][8] Soulja Boy responded to the interview, saying that West's words onDrink Champs stunned him and claimed that West had praised his verse in person.[9][10]
Following the album's first listening party, a fan asked West'sKids See Ghosts cohortKid Cudi via Twitter if he would be featured on the album, to which Cudi responded he was not. However, Cudi's vocals were later heard at the album's second listening session.[11] Cudi would go on to detail how West subsequently reached out to him following the tweet, leading Cudi to record verses for "Moon" and "Remote Control".[12][13] His verse was previewed at the second listening session on August 6, 2021, but was taken off the song when it was officially released on August 29, 2021, in favor for a sample from the 2012 animated short filmStrawinsky and the Mysterious House, known in Internet and meme culture for the "Globglogabgalab", a song sung by the character of the same name in the film. Though unconfirmed as a direct causation, the sample was added afterYouTuberVideogamedunkey created a fake leak ofDonda, which included a sample of "Globglogabgalab".[14] On October 27, 2021, theStem Player was made available by West, which included three previously unreleased tracks as well as a version of "Remote Control" that re-adds Kid Cudi's original contribution.[15] "Remote Control pt 2" was officially released as part of the deluxe version ofDonda on November 14, 2021.[16]
