June 15, 2005 @ 3:16 pm

Kanye Gets Conscious on "Diamonds" Remix

Alyssa Rashbaum

Diamonds may be forever, but the meaning of Kanye West's single "Diamonds are Forever," has changed since the rapper found out the price some Africans pay for the ice he and his fellow MCs hold so dear. "When I first played the song for Q-Tip," West said in a statement, "he brought up the blood-diamonds. He started informing me. The very first thing I did was change the title of the song. From that point on , I wanted to do whatever I could to learn more and educate people about the problem. We came up with the concept for the video and of course, I couldn't wait for the opportunity to rap on the subject." Illegal diamond trading has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians in the last ten years in the small country of Sierra Leone, as battles continue for control of diamond mines and the stones found within. West wanted to address this in his remix of the original track, which sampled the theme song to the James Bond film of the same name. While in the original track, West focuses on his rise struggle to achieve fame and the cars and clothes he's earned for his hard work, and sings "Throw your diamonds in the sky if you feel the vibe," on the new "Diamonds" remix, which features West trading verses with Jay-Z, West shifts the songs focus towards the issue. "See a part of me's sayin' keep shinin'," he rhymes. "How, when I know what a blood diamond is? / Though it's thousands of miles away, Sierra Leone connect to what we go through today / Over here it's the drug trade, we die from drugs. Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs / The Diamonds. The chains, the bracelets, the charms is / I thought my Jesus piece was so harmless till I seen a picture of a shorty armless, and here's the conflict / It's in the black person's soul to rock that gold. Spend your whole life tryin' to get that ice / On a polo rugby you look so nice, how could something wrong make me feel so right." When it came to the video, West wanted the clip to juxtapose the beauty of the rocks themselves with the pain associated with its trade. The Hype Williams-helmed clip was shot over a three-day period in Prague, and was shot in black-and-white to mirror old-world glamour, as in a DeBeers diamond commercial, and to expose the horror of the blood-diamond trade. West's lesson plan on the diamond trade will start on June 15 at 8:00 p.m. when the clip for "Diamonds are Forever" premiers on BET's Access Granted. The video makes its way to MTV's "Total Request Live" on Monday, June 20. Late Registration hits stores on August 16.

Article tags: Kanye West, Jay-z, Q-tip, Hype Williams 

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http://www.vibe.com/news/news_headlines/2005/06/kanye_talks_diamonds_remix/

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