Dark Fantasy (song)
"Dark Fantasy" is a song by American hip hop recording artist and producer Kanye West from his fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). 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 track heavily samples "In High Places" by Mike Oldfield (sung by Jon Anderson). 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. The song received acclaim from music critics, who praised the song as a strong opener to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, complementing West's vocal delivery and the song's production.
"Dark Fantasy"
2010
4:41
- RZA
- Kanye West
- No I.D.
- Jeff Bhasker
- Mike Dean
Despite not being released as a single, the hype generated by the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy caused the song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 at position 60. It was the opening song of West's 2011 setlist at the Coachella Music Festival, and was performed at the 'Vevo Presents GOOD Music' musical venue. "Dark Fantasy" was utilized in the opening sequence of West's short film Runaway, in an extended scene where West drives down an atmospheric forest road.
Composition[edit]
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".[11][12][13][14] West begins his verse with the refrain "I fantasized 'bout this back in Chicago".[10] It introduces themes referenced on the majority of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, including comments on decadence and hedonism, with West musing how "the plan was to drink until the pain was over / but what's worse, the pain or the hangover?".[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.[18][19] The song contains the line "too many Urkels on your team / that's why your wins low", a double entendre.[18][19] The "Winslows" were the family Urkel lived with on the show Family Matters, with the alternative meaning touching upon how his opponents' "wins are low".[19] The chorus contains the line "can we get much higher?", another inquiry that is brought up during much of the proceeding album.[20] The song samples a portion of "In High Places" by Mike Oldfield, a pop rock song from 1983 from the album Crises.[21]
West raps in a highly melodic manner, almost singing some of his verses, over the brooding production style.[7] The production style has been defined as having several similarities with West's prior composition styles.[22][23] AbsolutePunk's Drew Beringer stated 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.[23]
Commercial performance[edit]
Due to the hype generated by the anticipation of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Dark Fantasy debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at 60, without actually being released as a single.[38] The second week it dropped to 83, and by the third week it exited the chart.[38] The song performed similarly in Canada, charting at 67 on the Canadian Hot 100.[39] Other than the four singles released from the album, ("Power", "All of the Lights", "Monster", and "Runaway") "Dark Fantasy" was the only song off the album to chart.[38] The song debuted at position 10 on the Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles as reported by Billboard.[40] It also appeared at position 80 on the South Korean Gaon Chart, and at 189 the following week.[41]
Legacy[edit]
In 2022, the song gained a resurgence in popularity due to an internet meme involving characters from the Japanese manga series One Piece. The meme involves a scene in the anime adaptation where the character Whitebeard shouts "The One Piece... The One Piece is real!" followed by a montage of edited images depicting him and several other One Piece characters (including Tony Tony Chopper, Monkey D. Luffy, and Portgas D. Ace), sometimes with drawn-on large penises, while the song plays in the background. The scene or audio of Whitebeard shouting is sometimes replaced with Better Call Saul actor Patrick Fabian reading the line instead.[42]