Kanye West Premieres ‘Gold Digger’, Blasts Web Cynics

Kanye West dropped by the Radio 1 Rap Show on Friday (June 24) to promote his new single ‘Diamonds From Sierra Leone’. West, when he wasn’t doing several freestyles, talked about how it’s important to keep working hard after he made it big because it is otherwise disrespectful, appealing to church and porn, the rebirth of the Roc and getting stuck in the middle of Dame and Jay-Z’s conflict, how he and 50 Cent are the two major releases in today’s hip-hop, how he came to spit this time with the new album, his vocabulary ability but still throwing in lines for the lowest common denominator, wanting to appeal to the hood and the good (ie pop charts), the video process, his passionate response to the controversy on borrowing rhymes on ‘Jesus Walks’ and the frustration with critics on the internet, knowing Common since he was 14 years old, and more. West also premiered the ‘Gold Digger’ complete track (21 minutes in – uncensored), which teams him up with Jamie Foxx, and cuts other cuts off the fothcoming ‘Late Registration’, including ‘Gone’, ‘Crack Music’, and ‘Heard ‘Em Say’. Audio at bbc.co.uk has since been removed.