Gold Digger (Kanye West song)

"Gold Digger" includes a sample of "I Got a Woman" by Ray Charles, as well as an interpolation by Jamie Foxx that was recorded due to uncertainty about the sample getting clearance.

West produced "Gold Digger" with record producer and composer Jon Brion.[1] Brion had achieved fame from his distinctive production work for artists and film scores for auteurs, though was lacking experience in hip hop. West became a fan of singer-songwriter Fiona Apple whom Brion had produced for; while watching 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, he appreciated Brion's score. The pair became connected via their mutual friend Rick Rubin; West quickly phoned Brion and they instantly formed chemistry with each other. West enlisted him to work on Late Registration, marking Brion's first involvement in a hip hop project, with the decision creating confused reactions across his fanbase. 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".[2] The producer recalled West taking charge of production with his strong vision and mentioned the rapper's "quick, intuitive decisions".[2]

In late 2003, West previewed an early version of "Gold Digger" with singer John Legend in New York City (NYC).[3][4] Many surmised that West conceived the song after watching Jamie Foxx's portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 biographical film Ray, contrary to how he actually crafted the beat at Ludacris' house in Atlanta, Georgia, before the film's creation had begun.[5] West originally came up with the song for Shawnna's 2004 debut studio album Worth Tha Weight, though she passed it on to him; his A&R representative Plain Pat said her reasoning was unknown. The chorus was originally written by West from a female's point of view, until West wrote the first two verses for himself in 2004, the second of which was performed live by him early that year. West initially planned to re-use a verse from his unreleased track "Drop Dead Gorgeous" for the third verse, before penning a new verse shortly before the release of "Gold Digger". Plain Pat remembered the song's mastering location and regular studio being "right next to each other" at Sony Music Studios in NYC, saying that the team went "back and forth for a week" as they walked over to master content after it was recorded and the process ended when "we cut the final part".[5]

During West's meeting with Canadian DJ A-Trak at Sasquatch! Music Festival, the rapper presented a rough version of the song to him. West felt the song was too poppy and sought out a style more akin to hip hop, to which A-Trak reacted by coming up with the idea of adding scratches, with confidence of what sample should be used. West considered this cool and the idea was mentioned when recording of the song would soon be finished in Los Angeles; the DJ recorded the scratches very late in the process, after the rapper flew him out to the county.[6] After West watched Ray with his friend John Mayer, he thought of the idea to have Jamie Foxx sing an interpolation of Charles' "I Got a Woman" (1954) in place of the song's initial sample, incase it failed to be cleared. Jamie Foxx recorded many takes; one version featured him singing from start to finish, but it was retracted since his vocals did not match properly with the instrumentation. The singer once recorded an explicit ad-lib, though he demanded for it not to be used.[5] Brion composed some extra sounds for "Gold Digger" to finish the basic track during his first session with West, recalling that the rapper was clearly aware of what elements he liked and how he complied: "Great, we'll focus on those things."[2][5] A sample of "I Got a Woman" was used for the final version, alongside Jamie Foxx's interpolation.[1][7]

Musically, "Gold Digger" is a pop rap song.[8] The song is a hip hop beat that contains samples (as well as an interpolation during the introduction) of "I Got a Woman" by Ray Charles, and a bouncy drum beat formed from handclaps and scratches by DJ A-Trak. Towards the end, the song employs vintage 1970s synthesizers which emit a honking sound in cadence to Kanye's voice.[9] West delivers a tongue-in-cheek lyrical narrative within "Gold Digger" in which he critically depicts the disastrous life of a man married to a woman who manipulates him for financial gain. However, another story arises within the third verse, which illustrates a once destitute black male who earns a fortune and decides to leave a loyal, unselfish girlfriend for a white girl and ends up driving a Hyundai, despite winning the Super Bowl.[10]

In 2013 it was reported that Trena Steward and Lorenzo Pryor, two children of the late musician David Pryor had filed a lawsuit against West for allegedly sampling "get down girl, go 'head, get down" from their father's 1974 obscure single "Bumpin' Bus Stop".[11]

"Gold Digger" was released as the second single from the album on July 5, 2005.[12][13] On August 2, a 12" vinyl was released for the song by Roc-A-Fella.[14] "Gold Digger" was eventually included as the fourth track on West's second studio album Late Registration on August 30, 2005.[15] On September 19, the song was released on a CD maxi single across Europe, through Roc-A-Fella.[16] A CD was later issued for it in France on November 27, 2005, by Def Jam.[17]

When released on the album, the song was made available for digital download.[18] "Gold Digger" sold over 80,000 digital downloads through legal music services, such as iTunes and Napster, within a week.[18][19] At the time, the song broke the record for the most digital downloads in one week and also scored the fastest download sales ever, feats that were both previously held by Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" (2005).[18][19] It was the top selling song on iTunes in 2005.[20] During that year, the song experienced heavy rotation on WGCI-FM, whose music director Tiffany Green said it was a listener favorite.[21] In 2018, "Gold Digger" was streamed 21.2 million times in the United Kingdom, ranking as the most streamed song from 2005 in the country.[22]

Several reviewers were fond of Jamie Foxx's vocals.

The song was met with widespread acclaim from music critics, mainly being praised for its composition. Jonah Weiner of Blender hailed "Gold Digger" as the album's best song, depicting it as letting out "the levels of talent separating West from that guy at the 7-Eleven".[23] He noted how West crafted "a thumping beat" from handclaps and the Charles sample, over which he "jokes about greedy groupies".[23] The Observer writer Kitty Empire saw the song as going against the elaborate style of most of Late Registration, saying it is "deliriously straight up and bouncy".[9] Sean Fennessey of Pitchfork stated that the song is simple "but not subtle", delving strongly into obviousness with Jamie Foxx's interpolation of Charles and "recycled drums, but succeeding with humor and reverence".[24] Uncut's Simon Reynolds commented that although it sampling Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" (1964) "would have been cool", the "Charles loop powers this gritty groove".[25] Reynolds asserted that the beginning has "a faux-blues whinge" from Jamie Foxx, while West later "wryly observes".[25]

The Guardian critic Alexis Petridis observed that the song features "the odd sound" of Jamie Foxx's Oscar-winning impersonation of Charles, alongside the latter being sampled.[26] USA Today's Steve Jones appreciated the song's humor, pointing out that West speaks of "women who will burn a hole in a man's pocket" beside the Charles sample that is accompanied by "Jamie Foxx ad-libbing" as him.[27] In Tiny Mix Tapes, Matty G vastly preferred the singer's interpolation of Charles to him "aping Al Green".[28] At the Los Angeles Times, Robert Hilburn wrote that the song is self-explanatory and has a theme of "marvelous mischievousness".[29] Writing for Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield viewed West as using it to indulge "his wit".[30] Jon Pareles from The New York Times praised West's "cool arrogance" on the song, noticing him funnily "calling for a chant".[31] Azeem Ahmad voiced a less positive response in musicOMH, calling it a "smash" that "hits you with standard pigeon bashing" like a male version of girl group TLC's "No Scrubs" (1999), though affirmed the Charles sample provides "the feel of a rejuvenated Negro Spiritual song".[32] Entertainment Weekly journalist David Browne saw an example of West being "predictably paranoid" in him "warning against a 'Gold Digger'" over a "taut, grunting beat" and a sample of Charles.[33] Veteran critic Robert Christgau wrote for The Village Voice that the song is "marked by cognitively dissonant" Jamie Foxx's interpolation of the work also sampled, while "misogynistic clichés" are laid on until "the oppressed black male" West defends suddenly "leaves a non–gold digger for a white girl".[10]

In the 2005 edition of Shea Serrano's The Rap Year Book, "Gold Digger" was listed as the most important song of the year.[34] Eye Weekly named the song the best single of 2005, with James Simons highlighting West's "good-natured humour and last-line admission of male guilt".[35] He also said people seemed to be too excited by "the squawking Ray Charles sample and characteristic claps" to notice how rap's apparent savior "had just added to [its] overflowing Trifling Bitch Songbook", concluding that "when Kanye drops gold like this, everyone digs it".[35] The song was voted in at number one on The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop poll for 2005, scoring 145 points.[36] The results of a poll taken by Eye Weekly of critics across Canada that year chose it as the second best single, with 1,442 points.[37] On a Rolling Stone readers' poll, the song was voted the third best single of 2005.[38] Dagsavisen gave the song the same ranking for the year, while it was placed fourth on NME's list of the best tracks.[39][40] On other lists of 2005's best singles, the song was ranked at number 10 by Zündfunk,[41] number 12 by Playlouder,[8] and number 14 by Stylus Magazine.[42]

In the 2014 issue of XXL that celebrated 40 years of hip hop, the song was chosen as one of the five best singles of 2005.[43] On Entertainment Weekly's list of the best single each year from 1990 to 2014, it was named the best of 2005.[44] To celebrate their 16 year anniversary in 2016, NPR selected a favorite song from each year since they started, picking "Gold Digger" for 2005.[45] In 2008, the track was ranked at number 20 on VH1's list of the greatest hip hop songs ever.[46] The track was selected as the sixth best song of the 2000s decade by the network, while Rolling Stone picked it as the decade's 29th best.[47][48] "Gold Digger" was placed at numbers 34 and 40 on respective lists of the best songs of the 2000s by Slant Magazine and NME.[49][50]

In 2018, Rolling Stone named the song the 36th greatest of the 21st century.[51] Highsnobiety ranked it as West's fifth best song two years later; Bianca said his "innate musical knowledge" is demonstrated via Jamie Foxx's interpolation of Charles' work and "a surprise synth-coda" that appears to nod to Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" (1972).[52] In 2014, NME listed the former as the 93rd greatest song of all time,[53] while it was also hailed as one of the greatest of all time by Time in 2011.[7] "Gold Digger" is included in the 2015 version of Robert Dimery's book 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die.[54] The song won Best Rap Solo Performance at the 2006 Grammy Awards, standing as one of West's three wins there.[55] At the same ceremony, it received a nomination for Record of the Year.[56] In 2006, the song was awarded Best Collaboration and Hot Rap Track at the BET Awards and Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, respectively.[57][58]

"Gold Digger" knocked Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" off the top spot of the US Billboard Hot 100, though it stood behind the latter as the second longest number-one single of 2005.

"Gold Digger" debuted at number 92 on the US Billboard Hot 100 for the issue dated July 30, 2005, before reaching number 19 over a month later.[71][72] The song then lept 18 places to top the Hot 100 and end the 14-week number one reign of singer Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together", while blocking her single "Shake It Off" directly from the summit.[72] "Gold Digger" amassed over 80,500 downloads and experienced the largest radio airplay gain for that week,[72] as well as giving West his first number-one single and Jamie Foxx his second on the Hot 100.[12][73] The song spent 10 consecutive weeks atop the Hot 100, standing as one of the longest reigns in the chart's history as of 2021.[74][75] This also made the song the second longest number-one of 2005, behind "We Belong Together", and it was dethroned by Chris Brown's single "Run It!".[74][76] For the year, "Gold Digger" ranked as the sixth most popular song on the Hot 100.[77] By 2009, the song stood as the chart's third biggest hit that was released by The Island Def Jam Music Group.[78] On the decade-end chart for the 2000s, it ranked as the ninth most popular song on the Hot 100.[79] As of May 31, 2018, the song is West's largest hit of all time on the Hot 100, while it stands as the 63rd biggest hit across the chart's 60 year history up to that year.[80][81]

The song entered the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at number 53 for the issue date of July 16, 2005,[82] while it later went on to reach number three around two months later.[72] The same week as topping the Hot 100, the song rose to number two on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[72] The following week, "Gold Digger" peaked at number one on the chart, a position it spent four weeks at.[83][84] Simultaneously with its Hot 100 peak, the song shot up from number 94 to the second position on the US Pop 100, setting a record for the chart's largest jump ever.[72] A week later, it peaked at number one on the Pop 100, holding on to this position for 10 weeks.[83][85] The song also topped the US Hot Rap Songs, Mainstream Top 40, and Rhythmic charts, marking West's first number-one on the second chart.[86][87][88] In June 2010, the song was reported to have scored the fifth highest radio audience ever in the US, with 175.6 million impressions for the week of October 22, 2005.[89] By May 2011, it had sold 3,083,000 copies in the US, standing as West's third song to pass 3 million sales in the country.[90] On September 23, 2020, "Gold Digger" was awarded an octuple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for pushing 8,000,000 certified units in the US, ranking among the best-selling digital singles in the country by certification.[91][92]

In Australia, the song debuted at number two on the ARIA Singles Chart.[93] A week later, it rose to the chart's summit, giving West his first number-one single in Australia and spending three weeks at the position.[94] On December 3, 2015, "Gold Digger" was certified quadruple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of 280,000 copies in Australia.[95] The song entered the NZ Singles Chart at number 34 for the issue date of October 24, 2005.[96] It lept 29 places to number five the next week, hitting number one shortly later on the chart issued November 14, marking West's first single to reach this position in New Zealand and remaining there for one more week.[97][98] In the song's 22nd and final week on the chart, it was certified gold by Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) for selling over 7,500 units in the region.[98][99]

The song debuted and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, which it lasted for 75 weeks on.[100][101] As of April 2017, the song stands as the 22nd biggest hip-hop hit of all time in the UK.[102] It ranks as West's most successful song ever on the UK Singles Chart up to October 2019, despite "Stronger" (2007) having charted higher.[103] On September 24, 2021, "Gold Digger" was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shelving 1,800,000 units in the UK.[104] Similarly to its UK peak position, the song reached number three on both the Irish Singles Chart and Scottish Singles Chart.[105][106] It was less successful in Norway and the Netherlands, peaking at numbers 14 and 20 on the Topp 20 Singles and Dutch Top 40 charts, respectively.[107][108] The song also hit the top 50 in Sweden,[109] Germany,[110] Poland,[111] and Austria.[112] On September 18, 2018, "Gold Digger" received a platinum certification from IFPI Danmark for 90,000 shipments in Denmark.[113]

West performing "Gold Digger" at the Sydney Opera House in 2006, with on-screen graphics resembling the music video

The song's music video was directed by Hype Williams, who also directed West's previous video, "Diamonds from Sierra Leone".[114] Shot in a widescreen letterboxed 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.[115] The titles of the magazines on whose covers the women appear 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.[116] The music video won the BET Award for Video of the Year at the 2006 BET Awards, and received nominations for both Best Male Video and Best Hip Hop Video at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.[57][66] The visual was nominated for Favorite Video at the MTV Asia Awards 2006, alongside garnering nominations for the awards of Best Male Video and Best Hip-Hop Video at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards 2006; it was also nominated in the latter category at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.[117][118][119] Also in 2006, the video received a nomination for the solo Best International Video award at the MuchMusic Video Awards, while it was presented with the Michael Jackson award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video at the Soul Train Music Awards.[120][121] ShortList named it the best music video of 2005.[122]

West first performed a sparse version of the track at the 2nd Annual Dynamic Producer Conference in NYC during late 2003, backed by piano from John Legend, who also sang the chorus.[3][4][123] West's stage outfit included a Reese's Peanut Butter Cups T-shirt and a red hat, while he rocked a rucksack.[123] He initiated a call and response during the performance, directly asking the crowd to say "Ohhhhhhh oh".[124] West performed "Gold Digger" at the 2006 Coachella Festival, introducing it by alluding to the profanity: "White people, this is your only chance to say [the N-word]."[125] For his headlining set at the 2011 Coachella Festival, West delivered a performance of the track.[126] On December 10, 2021, West performed the song with an alternate chorus that omitted any profanity during a benefit concert with Drake at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for Larry Hoover's jail sentence.[127]

Cover versions

• The song was also later sung by the Oceanian Hip-Hop duo Noozfa & Izzei , and they made a crunk remix featuring White Dawg, 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.
• "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 "niggas", like the edited music video.
• English solo artist Dear Landlord performed an acoustic version of "Gold Digger".
• Vitamin String Quartet recorded a string quartet version of the song for one of their Unstrung albums.
• Christian parody band ApologetiX parodies the song as "Bone Digger" on their album Wordplay.
• The Rhode Island-based jazz/funk/hip-hop group Milkbread often covers the song at live shows with a funkier, horn-based groove.
• 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 performed 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.
• On September 13, 2012 The X Factor UK contestant Lucy Spraggan performed the song on week two of season 9.

Remixes

• In 2006 a drum and bass remix was released by High Contrast.
• Lil Wayne freestyled over the beat for his mixtape, The Suffix. Similar freestyles have been done by Juelz Santana and Gangsta Boo, among others.
• In 2005 American DJ and producer Diplo remixed the track; he edited the song's chorus to resemble the voice of Ray Charles. The electronic track was titled "Gold Digger (Diplo Mix)" and appeared on the release "Hollertronics Vol 3" on the Money Studies Records label.[128]
• A politically charged mash-up of the song titled "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People" circulated following Hurricane Katrina, incorporating audio of Kanye West's own assertion that "George Bush doesn't care about black people" on a televised benefit concert. The song criticized George W. Bush for his slow reaction to the plight of New Orleans and was written by Houston hip-hop duo 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.

Information taken from Late Registration liner notes.[1]

Recording

• Recorded at The Record Plant (Hollywood, CA), Sony Music Studios (NYC), Chalice Recording Studios (Hollywood, CA) and Grandmaster Recording Studios (Hollywood, CA)
• Mixed at Chalice Recording Studios (Hollywood, CA)

Personnel

• List of best-selling singles
• List of best-selling singles in the United States
• List of number-one singles of 2005 (Australia)
• List of number-one singles from the 2000s (New Zealand)
• List of UK R&B Singles Chart number ones of 2005
• List of UK top-ten singles in 2005
• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 2005

Look up gold digger (kanye west song) in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• "Gold Digger" Lyrics at MTV (archived from 2009)