“Diamonds from Sierra Leone”, often referred to as “Diamonds Are Forever,” was the first single from Kanye West’s second album, Late Registration. Released in 2005, the single heavily samples Shirley Bassey’s theme song for the 1971 James Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever although she is not credited. Dame Shirley Bassey was reported to be furious that she was not contacted before the track was released. French director Michel Gondry played drums on the song.”Michel Gondry - Biography” at IMDb http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0327273/bio

The song peaked at #43 on the Billboard Hot 100, was moderately successful on the iTunes music service, and peaked at #8 on the UK Top 40. The song is about Roc-A-Fella, and the chorus “Throw ya diamonds in the sky” refers to the Roc-A-Fella hand sign, which is in the shape of a diamond.

After making the song, West learned more about the plight of West African children who mine conflict diamonds and die in civil wars financed by diamonds, and decided he would use the video to get this message across. He also recorded a remix of the song, featuring Jay-Z, where he talks about conflict diamonds. Some say that the remix was inspired by Lupe Fiasco’s song “Conflict Diamonds”, which itself uses the beat from Kanye’s song. The remix was included on the album, whereas the original version was included as a bonus track.

This song won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Rap Song.

This song was originally named “Diamonds Are Forever” but because Jay-Z had a song on called “Diamond Is Forever”, Kanye changed it to “Diamonds from Sierra Leone”.

Single Tracklist

A-Side

1. “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” (Clean) – 4:00
2. “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” (Dirty) – 4:00

B-Side

1. “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” (Instrumental) – 4:00
2. “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” (A cappella) – 4:00

References

External links

• “Was your sparkling diamond produced by child slaves or polished by bonded children?”

References

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