Gold Digger

"Gold Digger" is a song recorded by American rapper Kanye West featuring guest vocals by Jamie Foxx. Released as the second single from West's second album, Late Registration, "Gold Digger" peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 on September 6, 2005, becoming West's and Foxx's second number one single. Co-produced with Jon Brion, the song contains an interpolation of Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" by Foxx. 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 2006 Grammy Awards (losing to Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams") and won the award for Best Rap Solo Performance. The song lists at number 49 on Billboard magazine's All Time Top 100. The song was voted number 20 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop. Upon its release, many surmised that West conceived "Gold Digger" after watching Jamie Foxx's Oscar-winning portrayal of Ray Charles in the biographical film Ray. However, he had actually recorded the song long before the movie was even developed. West originally produced and recorded the song in Ludacris's home in Atlanta, Georgia for Shawnna's 2004 debut album Worth Tha Weight and had written the chorus from a female first-person viewpoint. However, for reasons unknown, Shawnna passed on the beat. Not wanting to let it go to waste, West decided to write the two verses for the song himself, this time from a male's point-of-view. About a year later, right before "Gold Digger" was set to be released, West decided to add a third verse and in a week the new song was recorded and mastered at Sony Music Studios in New York. The idea of employing Jamie Foxx specifically to sing an interpolation of Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" in place of its initial sample did in fact arise from West seeing Ray with his friend John Mayer. Foxx's vocals were recorded over many takes; one version, he sang from start to finish, but the track was retracted as his performance didn't coincide well with the song's instrumentation. After recording another version, Jamie decided to re-record it once more as he felt it contained too many explicit lyrics. Once the track was in place, it was layered with additional instruments provided by Brion and individually selected by West. By the end of their very first studio session together, the pair had completed the basic tracks for final version of "Gold Digger". "Gold Digger" contains an interpolation of "I Got a Woman" by Ray Charles and a bouncy beat formed from handclaps as well as scratches DJ A-Trak. The song also contains a frequent vocal sample from the song "Bumpin' Bus Stop" by Thunder and Lightning. Towards the end, the song employs vintage 1970s synthesizers which emit a honking sound in cadence to Kanye's voice. 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. 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. 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.

[Produced by Kanye West and Jon Brion] [Intro: Jamie Foxx] She take my money when I'm in need Yeah, she's a triflin' friend indeed Oh, she's a gold digger Way over town that digs on me [Chorus: Kanye West & (Jamie Foxx)] (She give me money) Now, I ain't sayin' she a gold digger (When I'm in need) But she ain't messin' with no broke niggas (She give me money) Now, I ain't sayin' she a gold digger (When I'm in need) But she ain't messin' with no broke niggas (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head [Verse 1: Kanye West] Cutie the bomb, met her at a beauty salon With a baby Louis Vuitton under her underarm She said: "I can tell you rock, I can tell by your charm Far as girls, you got a flock I can tell by your charm and your arm" But I'm lookin' for the one, have you seen her? My psychic told me she'll have a ass like Serena Trina, Jennifer Lopez, four kids And I gotta take all they bad asses to ShowBiz? Okay, get your kids, but then they got their friends I pulled up in the Benz, they all got up in We all went to din' and then I had to pay If you fuckin' with this girl, then you better be paid You know why? It take too much to touch her From what I heard she got a baby by Busta My best friend said she used to fuck with Usher I don't care what none of y'all say, I still love her [Chorus: Kanye West & (Jamie Foxx)] (She give me money) Now, I ain't sayin' she a gold digger (When I'm in need) But she ain't messin' with no broke niggas (She give me money) Now, I ain't sayin' she a gold digger (When I'm in need) But she ain't messin' with no broke niggas (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head [Verse 2: Kanye West] Eighteen years, eighteen years She got one of your kids, got you for eighteen years I know somebody payin' child support for one of his kids His baby mama car and crib is bigger than his You will see him on TV any given Sunday Win the Super Bowl and drive off in a Hyundai She was supposed to buy your shorty Tyco with your money She went to the doctor, got lipo with your money She walkin' around lookin' like Michael with your money Shoulda got that insured, Geico for your money If you ain't no punk Holla, "We want prenup! We want prenup!" (Yeah!) It's somethin' that you need to have ‘Cause when she leave yo' ass, she gon' leave with half Eighteen years, eighteen years And on the 18th birthday, he found out it wasn't his? [Chorus: Kanye West & (Jamie Foxx)] (She give me money) Now, I ain't sayin' she a gold digger (When I'm in need) But she ain't messin' with no broke niggas (She give me money) Now, I ain't sayin' she a gold digger (When I'm in need) But she ain't messin' with no broke niggas (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head [Verse 3: Kanye West] Now, I ain't sayin' you a gold digger, you got needs You don't want a dude to smoke, but he can't buy weed You go out to eat, he can't pay, y'all can't leave There's dishes in the back, he gotta roll up his sleeves But while y'all washin', watch him He gon' make it to a Benz out of that Datsun He got that ambition, baby, look at his eyes This week he moppin' floors, next week it's the fries So stick by his side I know there's dudes ballin', and yeah, that's nice And they gonna keep callin' and tryin', but you stay right, girl And when he get on, he'll leave yo' ass for a white girl [Chorus 2: Kanye West & (Jamie Foxx)] (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head, get down (I gotta leave) Get down girl, go 'head [Outro: Kanye West] Let me hear that back