[2] American record producer and composer Jon Brion had achieved fame from his distinctive production work for artists and film scores for auteurs, though was lacking experience in hip hop.
The pair became connected via record producer Rick Rubin, a mutual friend of theirs, and West quickly phoned Brion and they instantly formed chemistry with each other.
Brion imagined people commenting that West has "gone off his rocker" and envisioning him making "an art record with some crazy, left-field music guy", clarifying this not to be "the case whatsoever".
Journalist Jon Caramanica selected the song as the best track on the album in a review for Spin, commenting that it sees West "getting indignant over a tough Otis Redding sample" and Cam'ron delivering "a blistering verse".
[18] The Guardian critic Alexis Petridis viewed the sample as providing "an irresistible hook",[8] while Rolling Stone journalist Rob Sheffield noted that it is used to build "a totally mental funk loop".
[7] Writing for The Village Voice, veteran critic Robert Christgau detailed that the Redding sample and strings cause the song to "sneak up over the long haul".
[10] Sasha Frere-Jones, at The New Yorker, praised the chemistry between West and Brion, writing that the song "bleeds into a two-chord piano ostinato" after the beginning's Redding sample, until "a trim funk beat" follows.
[11] She asserted that Brion's string arrangements enter the song "in small staccato bursts, deferring to and reinforcing the beat", while West "warm[s] up by putting down his rivals".
[11] Blender's Jonah Weiner saw the song as one of the darker moments on Late Registration, depicting West's threat of moving to Oklahoma as "a bitter escape fantasy".
[15] Sean Fennessey of Pitchfork credited West's decision to feature Cam'ron on the song, writing that "the ineffable [rapper] continues his magical run" with humorous remarks evoking savant syndrome.
[20] In a lukewarm review for The New York Times, journalist Jon Pareles stated that West's "cool arrogance" is less comedic on "the backbiting 'Gone'" than fellow album track "Gold Digger".
[21] Entertainment Weekly journalist David Browne pointed to West insulting fellow rappers "unworthy of his production expertise" on the song as an example of him being "predictably paranoid".
[12] Fennessey observed how the song's Redding sample "beams in like a ray of sunlight on a mostly baroque album", setting up "this swelling peak of sonic pomp", which he glorified for having "the most insistent and insinuating" Brion composition on Late Registration, writing that West "cackles at his own grandeur" by featuring Cam'ron "right in the thick of it".
Shipley proclaimed that West delivers 30 "relentless bars" over "Brion's playfully textured" strings, beginning to show signs of "bristling at the limitations of the music industry", shortly after it had begun "opening its doors for him".
[28] Following Shifrin's viral YouTube video, counting towards 6.2 million streams of "Gone" in the United States, the song entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 18 for the issue dated October 9, 2013.