He explained that it is "the story of a phoenix fallen to Earth", who he makes his girlfriend, though she faces discrimination and eventually "has to burn herself alive and go back to her world".

The idea of power, influence, responsibility, faith, sin, and redemption are themes that run rampant in what would later become regarded as the Ye's magnum opus. Lifting the curtains back, showing complete transparency, MBDTF was on its way to becoming a once-in-a-generation cultural phenomenon.

“Naked sphinx straddling Kanye” serves as the main cover for the album. Condo told Kois “she's a kind of fragment, between a sphinx, a phoenix, a haunting ghost, a harpy. Then Kanye is also in some sort of strange 1970s burned-out back room of a Chicago blues club having a beer”.

The song samples a portion of "In High Places" by Mike Oldfield, a pop rock song from 1983 from the album Crises.