Gold Digger (Kanye West song)

This article is about the Kanye West song. For Gold digger, see Gold Digger (Kanye West song) (disambiguation).

"Gold Digger"
Song

"Gold Digger" is a 2005 number one single recorded by Kanye West. It features Jamie Foxx and was released by Roc-a-Fella Records. As the second single from West's second album, Late Registration, "Gold Digger" peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, becoming West's and Foxx's second number one single after 2003's "Slow Jamz" with Twista. It is inarguably his most commercially successful and signature song, most recognizable for the Ray Charles samplings reworked by Foxx (who portrayed Charles in the 2004 film Ray), and its caustic lyrical criticism of those who marry simply for money and security.

The single broke a record for the most digital downloads in a week, selling over 80,000 digital downloads, and was also the fastest selling digital download of all time; both records have since been broken. It was 2005's second-longest running number one on The Billboard Hot 100 at ten weeks, behind Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together". "Gold Digger" was nominated for "Record of the Year" at the Grammy Awards of 2006 (losing to Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams") and won the award for Best Rap Solo Performance.

History

Song content

"Gold Digger" was written by Kanye West and co-produced by West and Jon Brion. The song was partly inspired after Kanye West met a girl called Katherine Stanfield and was so impressed by her gold digging skill that he decided to write a song about it. The song is built around both a vocal interpolation and a sample of "I Got a Woman", originally performed by Ray Charles and written by Ray Charles and Renald Richard. Though he is given full credit as a featured artist on "Gold Digger," Jamie Foxx's only vocal contribution is the a cappella introduction to the song, an interpolation of Charles's "I Got a Woman" (Foxx opens the song with the line "She take my money/when I'm in need/Yeah she's a trifling/friend indeed," a twist on Charles' original lyrics, "She gives me money/when I'm in need/Yeah she's a kind of/friend indeed." A sample of Charles singing the original is repeated throughout the song). The song is the second collaboration between Foxx and West, following "Slow Jamz" with Twista. The two also worked on Foxx's latest album, and West features on Foxx's song "Extravaganza". Interestingly the song was originally created not with the intention of Kanye performing it himself but with the intention of female rapper Shawnna performing it on her debut album "Worth tha Weight", however upon her turning it down Kanye simply rewrote the lyrics to give the male perspective. According to Kanye the intended chorus to be sung by Shawnna was as follows: "I'm not sayin' I'm a gold digger, but I ain't messin' with no broke niggas..."[1].

In the song, West and Foxx deliver a tongue-in-cheek criticism of 'gold diggers', women who seek out well-to-do mates mainly to profit from their wealth. "Now I ain't saying she a gold digger," West tells his audience, "but she ain't messin with no broke niggers (pronounced as niggas)." The first verse describes the protagonist being sucked in by a lady's beauty, and unable to resist when the costs of being with her escalate. In the released version, the verse "messing with no broke niggers" was changed to "messing with no broke broke" which West claims to mean "the poorest of the poor". The description of the 'gold digger' hints at her taste for the finer things (but oddly enough the protagonist is attracted to her for it, showing that the 'victims' here aren't so unwilling after all). Later, we see the charm wear off as he is being taken advantage of. She obliges him to help out all of her kids and all of their friends at his expense. Kanye then mentions that he's not the first hip-hop star who's been in her sights, but he still can't resist her: "From what I heard she got a baby by Busta / My best friend say she used to fuck wit Usher / I don't care what none of y'all say, I still love her."

The second verse generalizes and discusses the long-term 'trap' where a gold digger gets a man to father a child, locking him in for child support to spend on herself, while not having to actually stay with the man. He mentions a pro football player acquaintance who is stuck in this trap, and pays so much (of his million-plus dollar salary) that she lives better than he does. This reflects a common sentiment among male divorcees considering alimony and child support as little more than money-siphons. The feeling is exacerbated because the gold digger doesn't use the money to take care of the child. Instead, she gets liposuction and so much plastic surgery that she's "lookin' like Michael (Jackson)" She even lies to her man about the paternity of her child, resulting in the man supporting the child for 18 years until he discovers he is not the father. Kanye proposes a solution to this: In a famous call-back response he claims "If you ain't no punk, holla 'We want pre-nup!'"

In the third verse, West addresses himself to a female listener, first assuring her that he isn't talking about HER, of course (I ain't sayin' you a gold digger, you got needs). He urges her to stick with her man, even if he is a dishwasher or cook at a fast-food restaurant, instead of going after the men with the money. In an ironic final twist which punctuates the sarcasm inherent in the song, West tells the 'gold-digger' that when that hopeful and ambitious broke man finally "gets on," he is very likely to "leave your ass for a white girl."

Music video

The song's music video was directed by Hype Williams, who also directed West's previous video, "Diamonds from Sierra Leone". Shot in a widescreen letterbox format, using stylized art direction with few props, the video features performances shots of West interspersed with footage of Williams' trademark female video models depicted as "pin-up" cover models from fictional vintage magazines. The titles of the magazines the women appear on the cover of reflect the correlating verses in the song. Foxx is also present, lip-synching both his own parts and the Ray Charles vocal sample. John Legend makes a brief cameo.

The video originally featured a woman holding a dagger, which MTV would not allow. It took a while to persuade West to edit the knife out. In his argument, he pointed out that Shakira had a knife in her video for "La Tortura" (even though then it is used in a kitchen, not in a violent image). In the end, West agreed to obscure the knife with sparks of light.

At the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, "Gold Digger" received nominations for both Best Male Video and Best Hip Hop Video, but did not win either of these awards.

One of the models in the video is newly crowned WWE Diva, Layla El.

Chart performance

Following the chart performance of "Diamonds from Sierra Leone", which failed to crack the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, West's label became concerned with how a follow up single would perform. Their concerns were unfounded as "Gold Digger" became a success, hitting number one on the Hot 100, Pop 100, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and the Hot Rap Tracks charts.

When Late Registration was released, the album version of "Gold Digger" was first made available for download. Approximately 80,000 digital downloads of "Gold Digger" were sold through on legal music services such as iTunes and Napster in that first week, making it the most successful digital sales debut ever. The song broke the record for the most digital downloads sold in one week, and the record for the fastest selling digital single of all time, both previously held by Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl". "Gold Digger" has sold over 1,000,000 downloads during its seven weeks of release. This makes "Gold Digger" one of the few songs in history to sell over 1,000,000 downloads in the United States.

The high digital download sales helped propel the song from number nineteen to number one in one week, the fifth highest jump ever to that position on the Hot 100. The jump ended the fourteen-week (and ten consecutive week) run of Carey's "We Belong Together" at number one, and kept Carey's "Shake It Off" from replacing "We Belong Together" as the number one single. The song spent ten weeks at the top of the Hot 100 until rising R&B star Chris Brown's hit "Run It!" shot up to the pole position for the week of November 19.

"Gold Digger" also became West's first Top 10 single on the Mainstream Top 40 chart, peaking at number-two. On the Pop 100, "Gold Digger" also broke a record by jumping from number ninety-four to number two, giving West the record for the biggest ever jump on that chart.

By reaching number-one, "Gold Digger" gave Charles his first Hot 100 chart-topper as a songwriter, credited as a result of the "I Got a Woman" sample. As an artist, Charles topped the Hot 100 three times in the 1960s, but always with other writers' songs.

Chart positions

Chart (2005)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Tracks (Explicit Album Version)	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Tracks (Edited Album Version)	13
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	1
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40	3
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	1
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	2

Single Tracklist

A-Side

1. Gold Digger (Radio)
2. Gold Digger (Remix) featuring Jamie Foxx, Trina & Jay-Z
3. Gold Digger (Instrumental)

B-Side

1. Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix) (Radio)
2. Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix) (LP)
3. Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix) (Instrumental)

Hurricane Katrina remix

A politically charged mash-up of the song circulated following Hurricane Katrina that incorporated audio of Kanye West's own assertion that "George Bush doesn't care about black people" on a televised benefit concert.[2] The song criticized George W. Bush for his slow reaction to the plight of New Orleans. Titled simply "George Bush Don't Like Black People" and written by Houston hip-hop duo The Legendary K.O. also known as K-Otix, the single became widespread on the Internet for several weeks after the catastrophe, in some cases backing video mash-ups with photo montages from the hurricane.

The refrain of the song asserts that "George Bush ain't a gold digger, but he ain't messin with no broke niggas", and implores, "come down, Bush, come on, come down" to New Orleans. Similar themes, including the characterization of black victims of the hurricane as looters, were covered by Public Enemy in a contemporaneous single, "Hell No We Ain't All Right!"

Song Passes

The song as well was later sung by the Oceanian Hip-Hop duo Noozfa & Izzei, and they made a crunk remix featuring White Dawg, Chyna Whyte and Lil' Jon. In addition, it was also sung in Kingston, Jamaica by various other artists like Lil' Bow Wow, C-Murder and Beenie Man.

Mind of Mencia

Comedian Carlos Mencia created a version of this song for a sketch on his show Mind of Mencia. Retitled Crazy Nigga, with West's face blocking out the g's whenever the word shows up on the screen, the song criticizes West's ego and suburban background. It also features fellow comedian Aries Spears playing Jamie Foxx's role.

Cover Versions

Welsh indie rock band The Automatic recorded a cover version of the song, which features on Radio 1's Live Lounge CD, as well as later being featured on their final single Raoul.During Leeds Festival 2006 they preformed it live with Adequate Seven and the lead singer and saxophonist of Capdown They also performed it live at the 2007 Reading festival, with fellow Welshmen, Goldie Lookin' Chain and at the 2007 Get Loaded In The Park. At the Newquay Boardmasters Festival in 2006, they performed it live with The Mystery Jets, Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly and My Elvis Blackout.

"Gold Digger", done in a polka beat, is the last segment of "Polkarama!", the polka medley on "Weird Al" Yankovic's album Straight Outta Lynwood. This version substitutes a second "broke" instead of "nigger", like the edited music video.