"Diamonds from Sierra Leone" (originally "Diamonds") is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his second studio album, Late Registration (2005). The song was released as a bonus track in May 2005. The song was produced by West, Jon Brion, and Devo Springsteen. The producers, with the exception of Brion, are credited as songwriters alongside John Barry and Don Black, who both received credit due to their composition being sampled. The song was initially centered around the demise of Roc-A-Fella Records, though was later re-recorded once West learned about blood diamonds in Sierra Leone. West premiered the song for Hot 97 on April 20, 2005, before it was sent to American mainstream radio stations the following month as the album's lead single, through Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam. In the chorus, West interpolated the phrase "forever ever, forever ever" from Outkast's "Ms. Jackson".
A hip hop song, "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" features a sample of "Diamonds Are Forever", performed by Shirley Bassey. Lyrically, it sees West connect his material wealth to Sierra Leone's blood diamonds and the resulting Sierra Leone Civil War. The song received generally positive reviews from music critics, who mostly complimented West's lyricism. They often emphasized the rapper's focus on his status, while some critics praised the sampling of "Diamonds Are Forever". The song was awarded Best Rap Song at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards and won one of the Pop Awards at the 2006 BMI London Awards, before being named by Slant Magazine as among the best singles of the 2000s decade.
In the United States, the song peaked at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 21 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 2005. "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" reached number eight in the United Kingdom, alongside attaining top 20 positions in Denmark, Finland, Ireland, and Norway. It has since been certified platinum and silver in the US and the UK by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and British Phonographic Industry (BPI), respectively. An accompanying black and white music video was released on June 15, 2005. In the video, scenes of children experiencing rough diamond mining in Sierra Leone are displayed, being accompanied at points by a De Beers commercial and cuts of West wandering around Prague. It received a nomination for Outstanding Music Video at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. West performed the song at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Glastonbury Festival in 2006 and 2015, respectively.
A remix of "Diamonds from Sierra Leone", featuring Jay-Z, was sent to American radio stations by Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam on June 15, 2005. The remix also samples Bassey's "Diamonds Are Forever" and sees Jay-Z rapping in the second part. Lyrically, it includes references to deaths of civilians in blood diamond mines and tension around consumerism. The remix garnered mostly positive responses from critics; they commonly appreciated the subject matter and some commended Jay-Z's appearance. It was ranked amongst best-of lists by multiple publications, including Dagsavisen and Rockdelux in 2005. West and Jay-Z performed the remix at the 2005 Summer Jam.
Background and recording
American record producer and composer Jon 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; the decision created 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". The producer recalled West taking charge of production with his strong vision and mentioned the rapper's "quick, intuitive decisions". Filmmaker Michel Gondry worked on "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" due to being in a studio where Brion had set up a drum kit one day.
The song's production was handled by West, Brion, and Devo Springsteen, all of whom co-wrote it apart from Brion. John Barry and Don Black also received songwriting credits because of the sample of singer Shirley Bassey's titular theme song for the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, which they wrote. Bassey revealed in September 2005 that she "didn't know anything about the song before its release" and assumed West did not request permission "to have me singing on his song", recalling not knowing of it until hearing West "performing it at the Live8 concert". She also alluded to a lack of contact "from his record company, which wasn't very nice". Bassey desired "to look into" West's usage of her vocals since he was "very cheeky", asserting that "one way or another he is going to have to pay me a lot of money". According to British media law specialist Elin Pinnell, a recording deal's "certain rights to your work to various different people" who allow its media exploitation and the likelihood of West gaining permission from one of Bassey's representatives meant he was probably guilty of no wrongdoing. Bassey differed in her opinion of West around two years after the comments, finding the sample impressive and feeling keen to collaborate with him.
The song was originally recorded under the title of "Diamonds", being about West's "posse" and their everlasting strong bond. West recalled that when he played the song for fellow rapper Q-Tip after they first met, the rapper told him about the blood diamonds from Sierra Leone, which were mined in a war area and sold internationally in an illegal manner for parliamentary funding. This led to West re-recording it as "Diamonds from Sierra Leone", and reading about the issue of conflict diamonds and how their sales were continuing a violent civil war in Sierra Leone, though the track still included the original's lyrics. He set out to do whatever he "could to learn more and educate people about the problem" from this point onwards, being enthusiastic to rap about it. The recording was also delayed by West and Brion waiting two weeks to rent a harpsichord for the track. West premiered it via Hot 97 on April 20, 2005, with fellow rapper Jay-Z telling radio personality Angie Martinez that West was not comfortable with the debut until mixing had been done about 14 times. The rapper cited memories of Jay-Z's Blueprint Lounge Tour (2001) and recollections of being among the movement of his record label Roc-A-Fella as inspiration for the song, adding that he still maintained a friendship with former chief executive officer Dame Dash.
Composition and lyrics
Musically, "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" is a hip hop song. The song contains a sped-up and looped sample of Bassey's "Diamonds Are Forever", written by Barry and Black, the former of whom also arranged and conducted the recording. According to West, the song reminds him of "athletes running", "somebody boxing", and "working out when it gets really hype"; he envisioned it as "the soundtrack to your life". The song features a heavy groove. It has a lush arrangement that is constructed around the Bassey sample, including keyboards accompanied by strings and harpsichords. The song contains guitars, contributed by record producer Dave Tozer. Live drums are also present, which were played by Gondry. West said he expresses "the musicality" on the song by providing "40 bars", rather than putting out "something that was more radio". On the song's chorus, West's tone ascends.
In the lyrics of "Diamonds from Sierra Leone", West links the material wealth that fame brought him with Sierra Leone's civil war and the illegal diamond trade causing it, alongside showing off his status. West looks at potentially receiving his desired level of praise, asking: "If you talkin' 'bout classics, do my name get brought up?" On the chorus, West offers his "forever ever ever EVER ever" loyalty to Roc-A-Fella. He recalls when he lost New Artist of the Year to Gretchen Wilson at the American Music Awards of 2004 on the song, criticizing himself for throwing a tantrum over it. West also addresses his relationship with Dash: "You know the next question, 'Yo, where's Dame at?'/ This track's the Indian dance to bring our reign back."
Release and reception In May 2005, the song was sent to American mainstream radio stations by West's labels Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam as the lead single from the album. On June 21, the labels released the song on vinyl in the United States. A CD for the song was later made available by Universal in the US on August 2, 2005. "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" was eventually included as the twentieth track on West's second studio album Late Registration on August 30, 2005.
The song was met with generally positive reviews from music critics, with them frequently praising the lyrical content. Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis noted it showcases West's unique role of the only popular rapper taking on politics by drawing "the links between the jewellery trade and Sierra Leone's civil war", being impressed with his attempt to discuss topics outside of his wealth and how funny "shooting people is, which is more than you can say for his contemporaries". AllMusic's Andy Kellman picked the song as an example of West using identical lyrical strategies to his debut studio album The College Dropout (2004), citing how he goes from "boastful to rueful". Kellman continued, seeing more importance in how "the conflict felt in owning blood diamonds will be lost on those who couldn't afford one with years of combined income", and also felt West demonstrates strength as "a pure writer" for mentioning uncovered subjects on the song. A reviewer for Billboard detailed that heavier concerns are expressed on the song in comparison to other tracks on the album, "further expanding West's reach". The staff of the Manchester Evening News saw the song as being built by reworking Bassey's "vocal styling" from "Diamonds Are Forever" with "an electro-tinged twist", assuring that the lyrical content is "simply toasting West's stardom".