Layered Vocal Stacks

Lore & Background

Justin Vernon of the group Bon Iver appears on backing vocals of the track and is the first voice heard on the album. West was a fan of Bon Iver's album *For Emma, Forever Ago* and invited him down to Hawaii to record with him. While working there, the two became friends and reportedly produced 10 songs during their sessions together. 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. 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. Minaj described both Jay-Z and West as "icons", and stated that she was blessed to be working with them. 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". Producer No I.D. spoke about the history of the beat, and noted that it was offered to both Drake and Jay-Z before West finally decided to use it himself. According to him, producers RZA and Pete Rock had already recorded certain portions of the song, and that he and West recorded the chorus parts. Following that, he mused "then Nicki did the intro and it went crazy. That's one of my favorite records, just because of all the emotions that came with it."

In Their Own Story

In Oahu, Hawaii, the recording sessions for *My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy* took place in a reclusive manner. West only worked with artists he considered himself familiar with following several media controversies. Justin Vernon arrived, a fan of his work from *For Emma, Forever Ago*, and the two spent fourteen-hour days recording. They reportedly produced 10 songs together during their sessions. Nicki Minaj received the call to contribute a spoken word introduction. She was excited because she was a fan of Jay-Z, who was also recording with West at the time. She delivered her lines in the persona of Martha Zolanski, a character that rewrites the introduction to Roald Dahl's "Cinderella". The layers built: Vernon's backing vocals, Minaj's narrative, Teyana Taylor's contributions to the hook, and West's melodic verses. The result was the opening track of the album, introducing themes of decadence and hedonism with the line "the plan was to drink until the pain was over / but what's worse, the pain or the hangover?"

Reader's Guide

The song features production by RZA of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, who commented that "Dark Fantasy" was one of the many compositions that he and West collaborated on. According to him, West had a "stack of beats" and that he tried to be as productive as possible with so much material already recorded. The style of composition is deeply influenced by producer RZA, who introduces his "bring-the-ruckus" aesthetic to the song production. West raps in a highly melodic manner, almost singing some of his verses, over the brooding production style. The production style has been defined as having several similarities with West's prior composition styles. AbsolutePunk's Drew Beringer felt that the song sounded like West was "sampling his own source material" on the song, and felt that West embraced a "baroque instrumentation" on the track. The song samples a portion of "In High Places" by Mike Oldfield, a pop rock song from 1983 from the album *Crises*. The track heavily samples "In High Places" by Mike Oldfield (sung by Jon Anderson). Personnel listed include Mike Dean on piano and additional production, Jeff Bhasker on keyboards and additional production, and Chris "Hitchcock" Chorney on cello.

Did You Know?

• Justin Vernon of Bon Iver appears on backing vocals and is the first voice heard on the album.
• Nicki Minaj's opening narrative is delivered in the persona of her alter ego Martha Zolanski, which rewrites the introduction to Roald Dahl's poetic rework of 'Cinderella'.
• The beat for 'Dark Fantasy' was offered to both Drake and Jay-Z before Kanye West decided to use it himself.
• The song samples 'In High Places' by Mike Oldfield, a pop rock song from 1983 sung by Jon Anderson.
• Despite not being released as a single, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at position 60 due to hype from the album's release.