Gold Digger: The Ray Charles Sample That Became a Pop-Rap Smash

By Dan Cohen · Published 2026-06-27

Gold Digger, Kanye West’s 2005 smash from Late Registration, is a masterclass in turning the old into the irresistibly new. It’s built around the melody of Ray Charles’s classic “I Got a Woman” — and, in an inspired move, the hook is sung by Jamie Foxx, who had just won acclaim for playing Charles in the biopic Ray. So the song channels a soul legend through the actor who’d just embodied him, layering eras and references into one unstoppable hook.

Wit with an edge

Lyrically it’s a playful but pointed take on relationships and money — the archetype of the “gold digger” and the men who fall for one. It’s funny and quotable, but it carries a real ambivalence about love, status and being used, and a sting in its closing turn that complicates the joke. West was always sharpest when his humor had a barb in it.

The crossover machine

It became one of the biggest songs of the decade — a number-one hit that played everywhere — and it showcased the soul-sampling approach that defined West’s early career, taking the records his parents’ generation loved and refashioning them for a new one. Few songs from the era were more inescapable.

What it measures like

On our measurements it’s bright, driving and high-energy — a punchy, soul-sampled beat with real bounce. Full profile on its song page.

Gold Digger appears on Kanye West’s 2005 album Late Registration, features Jamie Foxx, and is built on Ray Charles’s “I Got a Woman.” Readings of the lyric are presented as interpretation. No lyrics are reproduced.