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Revision as of 00:47, 7 January 2006
- For the comic book, see Gold Digger (comic).
| "Gold Digger" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Single by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx | ||
| From the album Late Registration | ||
| Released | 2005 | |
| Format | Digital download 12" maxi single | |
| Genre | Hip-hop/blues | |
| Length | 3:28 | |
| Label | Roc-A-Fella | |
| Writers | Kanye West Ray Charles Renald Richard | |
| Producers | Kanye West Jon Brion | |
| Video director | Hype Williams | |
| Certification | Uncertified | |
| Chart positions | #1 (USA) #1 (Australia) #2 (UK) | |
| Kanye West singles chronology | ||
| "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" (2005) |
"Gold Digger" (2005) |
"Heard 'Em Say" (2005) |
| Jamie Foxx singles chronology | ||
| "Slow Jamz" (2003) |
"Gold Digger" (2005) |
"N/A" N/A |
"Gold Digger" is a 2005 number-one single recorded by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx, and released by Roc-a-Fella Records. 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. Based upon elements of the Ray Charles song "I Got a Woman", "Gold Digger" features Jamie Foxx, who portrayed Charles in the 2004 feature film Ray, imitating Charles' vocal style. The single broke a record for the most digital downloads in a week, selling over 80,000 digital downloads, and is also the fastest selling digital download of all time. It is 2005's second-longest running #1 on The Billboard Hot 100 at 10 weeks, behind Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together". As of December 10th 2005, "Gold Digger" was nominated for "Record of the Year" on the Grammy Awards, which will be held on February 2006.
History
Song information
"Gold Digger" was written by Kanye West, and co-produced by West and Jon Brion. 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 Charles and Renald Charles. 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," and it's 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".
In the song, West and Foxx deliver a tongue-in-cheek criticism of a woman who falsely seduces a man under the true pretense of spending his money, playing into the stereotype of African-American young women as being gold diggers. "Now I ain't saying she a gold digger," West tells his audience, "but she ain't messin with no broke niggas." The woman spends money her man gives her to buy her kid's toys on liposuction and plastic surgery (West comments that the woman was "supposed to buy tyco wit' your money", but instead "went to the doctor and got "lipo" wit' your money"). 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.
West urges his female listeners to stick with their 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 points out that when that hopeful and ambitious broke man finally gets "put on", however, he is very likely to "leave your ass 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 CinemaScope letterbox format, using stylized art direction with few props, the video features performances shots of West intercut 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.
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.
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 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 Hip-Hop/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 the Pop 100, "Gold Digger" also broke a record by jumping from number 94 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
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Billboard Hot 100 | #1 (10 weeks) |
| 2005 | Billboard Pop 100 | #1 (10 weeks) |
| 2005 | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | #1 (2 weeks) |
| 2005 | Hot Digital Songs | #1 |
| 2005 | Hot Digital Tracks (Explicit Album Version) |
#1 |
| 2005 | Hot Digital Tracks (Edited Album Version) |
#13 |
| 2005 | Hot Rap Tracks | #1 (3 weeks) |
| 2005 | Top 40 Mainstream | #2 |
| 2005 | New Zealand Singles Charts | #1 (2 weeks) |
| 2005 | Australian ARIA Charts | #1 |
| 2005 | Rhythmic Top 40 | #3 |