Kanye West - Gold Digger ft. Jamie Foxx

What this video is

Released in the summer of 2005 as the second single from Kanye West's 'Late Registration,' 'Gold Digger' arrived at the apex of hip-hop's commercial and cultural dominance in the mid-2000s. The song broke the record for most digital downloads in a single week at the time of release and spent 10 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the sixth most popular song of 2005 on that chart. Its sampling of…

Why it matters

A landmark in pop-rap crossover, 'Gold Digger' exemplifies mid-2000s hip-hop's mastery of mainstream accessibility without sacrificing genre identity. Its integration of a soul sample via live interpolation rather than direct replay was a creative and legal strategy that also shaped how hip-hop…

The director

Harold 'Hype' Williams (born August 1, 1970, Queens, NY) is an American director, producer, and screenwriter who attended Adelphi University. Regarded as the seminal hip-hop music video director of the 1990s, his style is defined by fisheye lens work,…