Kanye West - "Diamonds Are Forever" C/D

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Thoughts? After several listens it hasn't sunk in. The usual sophomore-blues: ruminations of fame, life's-a-bitch, etc. Some tics are quite annoying (the "FOREVER-EVAH-EVAH?" hook), as is the James Bond hook.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)

I like it a lot. Or rather, I liked the original a lot. The remix is kind of corny, although I guess I respect the intent. The production was seriously stepped up. I dont find "foreva eva" that annoying, I like the James Bond hook. "Throw your diamonds in the sky" might be a double entendre but I'm still surprised everyone got so made on some "look at whats going on in africa" when he clearly was referring to the Roc diamond hand signal. Yeah the remix is good though.

― deej.., Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

I still hate it.

By the way, Kanye West - Diamaonds (First single from LATE REGISTRATION)

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

I think it's great.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:20 (twenty years ago)

The low end is AMAZING.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:21 (twenty years ago)

The production in this song is just fucking jaw-dropping, gorgeous. The string flourishes and the thubbathubba bassline in particular. His rhyming has gotten so much more fluid, but he still says some retarded things (the bit about the fat friend being called "minivan", wtf Kanye?).

haha xpost

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:24 (twenty years ago)

Kanye likes his car gags.

Forevahevah can go suck it - if you're gonna do it, do it w/ some balls and SCREAM it out, don't do it with wispy hoarse out-of-breath whining. The video can really go suck it - yeah, dude, you're Ludwig, whatever. The rest of the song is woot!

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

haha, I haven't seen the video...does he wear a POWDERED WIG?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:28 (twenty years ago)

Video filmed in Europe (Prague?), shot in rich monochrome and directed by Hype with the usual bombast that goes with that (full credits at the end of the vid). A 'Purchase Conflict-Free Diamonds' message adorns the final shot of West walking away from the camera.

How about not buying diamonds at all? No? Oh well.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:33 (twenty years ago)

Whats wrong with wearing diamonds?

― deej.., Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

What's wrong with wearing a necklace of human arms?

(please don't post a picture of Kali here)

― mike h. (mike h.), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:38 (twenty years ago)

What sort of guarantee comes with "conflict-free diamonds"?

I find it funny that bling is now like fur.

― Brett Hickman (Bhickman), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

If only, Nick! The video ends w/ Kayne in a church / mausoleum, banging away at two pianos, like Rick Wakeman (sans cape) (and ice capades)doing Jerry Lee Lewis. Whatta dork.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:40 (twenty years ago)

how is that funny brett?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

I never really figured diamonds would be something activists would get behind.

Had no idea until that silly movie with the Rock and Sean William Scott that diamonds were something that people were basically enslaved over. Sign o' the times and the Rock led the way...

― Brett Hickman (Bhickman), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

I still love the song and the video could be good, but they're a horrible match. It's hard to take the video seriously (and both the message and Kanye are very, very serious) when he drops shit like the "minivan" line. It would have made a great video for the remix, but for the original, it just doesn't work. Like, at all.

― Jeff Reguilon (Talent Explosion), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

WTF, people seriously have never heard the phrase "conflict diamonds" or "blood diamonds?" It's been shown that pretty much the whole diamond industry is fucked, they've caught people being bribed off to certify conflict diamonds as "clean." If you're buying a diamond, it's dirty.

― mike h. (mike h.), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:56 (twenty years ago)

Beat = classic.

Vocals = annoying but not dud.

The beat is great but he bugs me as a rapper sometimes. I like the minivan line but the part where he's talking about himself in third person makes me cringe and i have to turn the song off. Instumental gets a lot of play though.

Seems like he's back on form as all the recent tracks i've heard by him are fire.

What's that one with the "brand new" vocal sample?

― Ellis From Die Hard, Wednesday, 29 June 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

Considering how many debeers commercials are on TV all the time, no I'd say it's not common knowledge that "if you're buying a diamond, it's dirty." I certainly didnt know. Do you have a source? Not that I find it unbelievable, but I'm interested.

(And again, "Diamonds in the sky" meant primarily a hand gesture, people!)

― deej.., Wednesday, 29 June 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

I never really thought about it myself until that line in Miss Dynamite's 'It Takes More'

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 18:22 (twenty years ago)

song grew on me. Production-wise it's certainly excellent, Kanye's kinda annoying on it but he's certainly been worse.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

I never got the complaints that his voice sucked until now. That mushmouthed aw-shucks drawl he used to great effect on The College Dropout seems affectation now, a refusal to enunciate or phrase properly; and, yeah, the minivan line bugs me too.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 18:53 (twenty years ago)

the original is meh but I love the remix, Jigga rides in to save the day

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)

Am I the only person who thinks the minivan line is funny?

― Hillary Brown (Hillary Brown), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 19:55 (twenty years ago)

Nope.

― deej.., Wednesday, 29 June 2005 20:00 (twenty years ago)

I will admit that the video is ridiculous paired with the song, but hey, that's just part of the whole Kanye picture. He's a complicated dude, y'all.

― Hillary Brown (Hillary Brown), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

deej - I didn't mean to insult anyone who hadn't heard about it, but it's one of those issues that should be widely known since the product is so popular, but no one seems to care. Probably because most people make one or two diamond purchases (wedding rings) and brush off the problems because they don't see themselves as contributors to the problem. Rappers and celebrities with giant gold/diamond chains, though...

Amnesty International: http://www.amnestyusa.org/amnestynow/diamonds.html
A telling paragraph:
Nor is a better paper trail foolproof. Diamonds are sufficiently small and portable to make it unlikely that any regime of certificates or guarantees will ensure that diamonds originate in conflict-free areas. Indeed, it seems that the only sure-fire way to eradicate conflict diamonds is to see an end to the conflicts where diamonds are found.

This isn't nearly as harsh as other articles I've read, but it makes the point: the certification process is far from foolproof. I'd suggest using Google to search for "blood diamonds" and "conflict diamonds" as there are a lot of other dependable organizations with information. Even if the conflict ends and they stop forcing children to work, you've still got the issue that they're basically strip mining an area in the world's poorest country that could be used for agriculture. In an age where we're within a few years of creating synthetic diamonds that are flawless and indistinguishable from real diamonds (they can currently be distinguished by an expert under scrutiny), this is disgusting.

― mike h. (mike h.), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 20:44 (twenty years ago)

Why don't rappers start using the new manufactured diamonds? Those things are pretty extraordinary looking.

― Brett Hickman (Bhickman), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

I'd love to see them wearing plastic beads on the wrist instead. And those rubbish leather bands.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

this song blows.

― That One Guy (That One Guy), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

zzzzzzzzzzzz

i am eager to hear the jon brion stuff tho

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 21:06 (twenty years ago)

i am not feelin' this song at all - it's made me change my entire image of Kanye. he is constantly contridicting himself lyrically and i can't get down anymore - this diamonds bull is my last straw.
i wrote a big ass deal about it here if you care to read it.

www.hatertuesday.com

― funkybitch, Thursday, 30 June 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)

i am eager to hear the jon brion stuff tho

what?!?

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:00 (twenty years ago)

I like the "minivan" line, too. He says it in a sort of bashful way.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:00 (twenty years ago)

caught the video a few days ago, my first exposure to the song. I was pretty non-plussed by it. Lifting the Outkast hook is lazy, more orchestral soul samples, more playa vs. backpacka sentiments = eh.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

I think I'd like it if I could get past the "FOREVER-EVAH-EVAH?" bit, but I can't.
In Miss Jackson, that bit worked perfectly, it summed up the idea of a person who's barely grown up themselves having to cope with being a parent.
Here it means nothing, and Kanye drags it out for way too long. And he says it 3 times where Outkast only say it once.
It's like those people who when somebody else in a conversation says something really funny, immediately add their own unfunny variation and kill the mood.

― Joe Kay (feethurt), Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:40 (twenty years ago)

do you understand the idea of a chorus? doing something more than once is not inherently a strike against it.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:42 (twenty years ago)

OK dude I havent read it but jesus "diamonds" = the roc hand signal. Hello.

― deej.., Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:44 (twenty years ago)

I read a bit of it now and you seem a bit confused. He wrote the song first, it wasn't about Sierra Leone until after he made the song. Wasnt it Jay-Z who told him about the situation in Sierra Leone? Whatever, point is your "he can't decide if he's bling bling or conscious so he sucks!" rant is a bit off target.

― deej.., Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:47 (twenty years ago)

there's a roc hand signal?

(I'm a little perplexed about the diamonds hubbub since a) I didn't notice any diamond industry subtext in the song on first listen, and they cut the video before it got to whatever "message" is at the end and b) I thought it was common knowledge that the diamond industry is and always has been fabulously corrupt and amoral.)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:50 (twenty years ago)

there's a roc hand signal?

http://www.tubafrenzy.org/weblog/archives/JayZRocLaFamilia-thumb.jpg

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:53 (twenty years ago)

He should have sampled Herb Albert's "Diamonds."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:53 (twenty years ago)

do you understand the idea of a chorus? doing something more than once is not inherently a strike against it

Yeah but doing it at all was a tremendously bad idea. If it was just a line I could ignore the bad taste of it and listen to the rest. But having it as a chorus makes it impossible to ignore.

― Joe Kay (feethurt), Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:53 (twenty years ago)

Wasnt it Jay-Z who told him about the situation in Sierra Leone?

supposedly it was Q-Tip.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:53 (twenty years ago)

why stop with the diamond industry? History of the gold jewelry industry is just as riddled with corruption and evil, much of it involving the black slave trade... there are some tangled moral issues here, I'm not sure Kanye (or any other black capitalist hip-hopper) is capable of dealing with them...

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 30 June 2005 21:56 (twenty years ago)

The "minivan" line is just there to set up the killer "I smoke, I drink, I'm s'posed to stop, I can't" line - oh no the stupid sexist things I say when I am wasted, I am Kanye therefore super-conflicted OH NO.

I find it mind-boggling that anyone could find lose a previously established liking for him based on this song, since the production and ryhmes are better than anything on College Dropout...

― Flyboy (Flyboy), Friday, 1 July 2005 08:07 (twenty years ago)

Who would be more capable of dealing with these tangled moral issues, Shakey?

― Flyboy (Flyboy), Friday, 1 July 2005 08:08 (twenty years ago)

McFly

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Friday, 1 July 2005 09:10 (twenty years ago)

i like how, at the end of the video, there's a tag that implores people to only buy conflict-free diamonds. uhhhhhh ok kanye, will do!

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 1 July 2005 11:04 (twenty years ago)

and yeah jaymc, jon brion produced a lot of this record.

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 1 July 2005 11:04 (twenty years ago)

or rather, they worked together a lot for it. who knows how many of his tracks ended up on it.

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 1 July 2005 11:04 (twenty years ago)

wow!!

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 July 2005 12:17 (twenty years ago)

Why don't rappers start using the new manufactured diamonds? Those things are pretty extraordinary looking.

Synthetic diamonds? But they are the same as natural diamonds, only it's made by humans. Also dirty: lots of humans got blown up when labs exploded. ;-) I feared it'd be more popular - I'm a jeweler - but I haven't seen many of'em here (in Belgium).

Anyway... back to the song...

― nathalie's post modern sleaze fest (stevie nixed), Friday, 1 July 2005 12:24 (twenty years ago)

What's wrong with wearing a necklace of human arms?
(please don't post a picture of Kali here)

Human heads?
(Vajrayogini?)

http://www.drala.ca/images/products/392_large_image.jpg

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Friday, 1 July 2005 12:56 (twenty years ago)

or uh, maybe that line is just a simple quote of the chorus of the southern rap hit "I Smoke, I Drank".

― Al (sitcom), Friday, 1 July 2005 12:58 (twenty years ago)

"I'd love to see them wearing plastic beads on the wrist instead. And those rubbish leather bands."

Exactly why I love Da Back Wudz, with their silly ass lanyards!

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Friday, 1 July 2005 13:08 (twenty years ago)

maybe that line is just a simple quote of the chorus of the southern rap hit "I Smoke, I Drank".

It can't be both?

― Flyboy (Flyboy), Friday, 1 July 2005 13:26 (twenty years ago)

it could be, but it seemed like you were patting Kanye on the back like he came up with the line himself.

― Al (sitcom), Friday, 1 July 2005 13:55 (twenty years ago)

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