Dark Fantasy (song)
The song serves as the opening track of the album, and was written by West, Ernest Wilson, Jeff Bhasker, Mike Dean and Robert Diggs.
It features an opening narrative delivered by rapper Nicki Minaj, and singers Teyana Taylor and Justin Vernon contribute to the song's hook and provide background vocals.
The song introduces several of the themes presented on the album and features numerous pop culture references, a gospel-inspired production style, and piano-driven composition.
[4] Vernon described the process as highly artistic in nature, stating that the fourteen-hour day recording schedule allowed for a lot of fun and creativity.
[7] Nicki Minaj was asked to open the song with a spoken word introduction, a favor she was excited to perform because she was a fan of Jay-Z, a rapper who West was recording with at the time.
That’s one of my favorite records, just because of all the emotions that came with it.”[10] The song is introduced with a contribution from one of Minaj's alter egos; Martha Zolanski, who appears to be a rewording of the introduction to writer Roald Dahl's poetic rework of "Cinderella".
[15][16][17] His lyrics on the track contain numerous musical and cultural references, including those to the song "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)", the Lamborghini Murciélago sports car, rapper Nas, fashion designer Phoebe Philo, short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", the band the Kings Of Leon and their song "Sex on Fire", singers Celine Dion and Leona Lewis, and television character Steve Urkel.
[24] MTV News praised the delivery of Minaj's verse, calling it structured like a nursery rhyme, musing that it "sets the tone for the song (which is intense and hallucinatory) and the album".
"[25] David Amidon of PopMatters felt that West's vocals were "layered a baker’s dozen different ways" and described the production as synthetic in nature.
[26] Dan Vidal of URB stated that he enjoyed Minaj's verse, describing it as a "pseudo-cockney-accented opening narration" and praised the song's arrangement as "spine-tingling".
[27] David Browne of Time wrote "tracks like 'Dark Fantasy' and 'So Appalled' are built on rumbling tanks of pianos and strings that sound as if West is marching into the apocalypse.
"[28] Andrew Martin of Prefix Magazine stated that the song restored his admiration for West, and that the track lived up to the hype behind it, writing "most of it is rather epic and damn good, especially this track with its classic RZA production and assistance from No I.D.."[29] J. Tinsley of The Smoking Section commented that the song served as a successful opener, viewing it as a "boisterous firestarter combining sharp lyrics, a spurious Nicki Minaj English accent and an enormous chorus.
[19] Jonah Weiner Slate commented that West pulled off an impressive balancing act, and cited the song as an example of "his marvelous, hungry ear".
