"Gold Digger" | |||||||||||
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Single by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx | |||||||||||
from the album Late Registration | |||||||||||
Released | July 5, 2005 | ||||||||||
Format | CD single, digital download | ||||||||||
Recorded | 2004 | ||||||||||
Genre | Hip hop, R&B | ||||||||||
Length | 3:28 | ||||||||||
Label | Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam | ||||||||||
Writer(s) | Kanye West , Ray Charles, Renald Richard | ||||||||||
Producer(s) | Kanye West, Jon Brion | ||||||||||
Kanye West singles chronology | |||||||||||
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"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 (2005), "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 samples of Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman".
The single broke a record for the most digital downloads in a week, selling over 80,000, 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 "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey. At the 2006 Grammy Awards, "Gold Digger" was nominated for Record of the Year and won the award for Best Rap Solo Performance. The song lists at number 60 on Billboard magazine's All Time Top 100 and at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade. "Gold Digger" was voted number 20 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop. As of January 2011, the song has sold over 3,000,000 copies in the United States.
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 constructed the beat of the song long before the movie was even developed. West originally produced and recorded "Gold Digger" in Ludacris's home in Atlanta for Shawnna's 2004 debut album Worth Tha Weight and had written the chorus from a female first-person viewpoint: "I'm not sayin' I'm a gold digger, but I ain't messin' with no broke niggas." However, for reasons unknown, Shawnna passed on using the song. Not wanting to let it go to waste, West decided to keep the beat for himself and add lyrics expressed from a male's point-of-view.