Some Things to Ponder
Kanye Lets us Know Diamonds Are Forever... Dripping in Blood
By Davey D
I wanna give a big shout out to Kanye West for stepping up and bringing some heat to the diamond jewelers of the world with the remix to his hit song Diamonds are Forever. In the original version, one wasnt quite sure if Kanye was praising Roc-A-Fella records which uses the diamond as a symbol or if he was giving props to cats like Jacob the Jeweler where he brought his 50 thousand dollar Jesus pendant from last year.
Apparently a few folks got at Mr. West and let him know the brutality that goes on behind the scenes inside those diamond minds in countrys like Sierra Leone just so todays rappers can bling and be iced out
Heres what Kanye had to say in his remix...
Good morning! This ain't Vietnam, still
People loses hands, legs, arms, for real
Little was known of Sierra Leone
and how it connected to the diamonds we own
When I speak of diamonds in the song
I ain't talking bout the ones to be glown
I'm talkin' bout Roc-a-Fella, my home
My chain, these ain't 'Conflict Diamonds'
Is they Jacob? Don't lie to me, man
See, a part of me say keep shinin'
How? When I know what a 'Blood Diamond' is
Though it's thousands of miles away
Sierra Leon connected to what we go through today
Over here, it's a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charms-es
I thought my Jesus piece was so harmless
'Til I seen a picture of a shorty armless
And here's the conflict...
It's in a black person's soul to rock that gold
Spend your whole life tryin' get that ice
Oh, the Polo rugby, you look so nice
How could something so wrong make me feel so right?
Right before I beat up myself like Ike
You could still throw your Roc-A-Fella Diamond tonight
Because...Diamonds Are Forever
Needless to say once Kanye spit those verses on a remix that included Jay-Z, he left quite a few folks in the diamond industry a bit upset. I guess these outfits do not want a repeat of what happened in 1986 when a number of prominent artists like Afrika Bambaataa and members of Blackwatch before they became X-Clan, just to name a few sat down and met in a hush-hush closed door meeting and decided to use their clout to encourage the Hip Hop community to stop purchasing Fat Gold chains.
There were two factors motivating this move. First, there was the unprecedented amount of violence and robberies that were coming upon rappers and their fans who sported this overpriced piece of jewelry. Second, was the fact that a lot of this gold was coming straight from South Africa where Apartheid was still in effect and it was being sold to a predominantly African American clientele by Korean merchants who seemed to have racial hang ups. This was a quite meeting with no cameras and a lot of fan fare but the end result was devastating for those who sold gold The strategy was to remove value from the fat gold chains and place them on cloth medallions that sported a picture of the African continent. Within a year, Hip Hoppers started sporting these inexpensive cloth medallions which in their mind was just as valuable if not more so then the gold chains.
People began to use their creativity and new found pride to adorn these medallions with more complex pictures and other Afrocentric symbols. It wasnt long before people from other ethnic backgrounds started adapting their own symbols to represent their heritage. Gold chains were passé and 10 dollar medallions were in
Like I said this wasnt a thing that the media jumped on. Not a whole lot of folks within Hip Hop or know about this meeting, but retailers who saw a good chunk of their income vanish overnight became well aware of Hip Hops consumer power. Hence when Kanye decided to do something bigger and better then a secret meeting, but instead a put out a number one song, you can clearly understand the cause for concern. If Hip Hop which has been responsible for reviving the cognac and liquor industry (Hennesy Couversoir, Don P), increasing the sales of major designer clothing manufactures by as much as 1/3, and creating the multi-million dollar cell phone ring tone industry to name few, imagine what would happen if artists and their fans said No to diamonds?
What I find even more interesting is the type of reaction or lack of reaction of Kanyes peers, some who are rolling around with diamond encrusted chains worth 200 thousand dollars and up. I wanna know their thought process when they are confronted with a song that provides the in your face information about their brothers and sistas dying to mine the diamonds that cats have around their neck. Will outlets like Jacob the Jeweler go out and hire a P-Diddy or a baby from Cash Money click to suddenly be a spokes person for the diamond industry? Heck, will they get to Kanye or his label and force him to tone it down and sweep these revelations under the rug? I mean to start one would think thered be a lot more fan fare about this remix. When I got my copy, all it touted was Jay-Z being added to the fold and not the social significance behind Kanyes new lyrics. What wouldve been an even more powerful statement is if Jay-Z spoke to the Sierra Leone situation as well.
I guess for some diamonds are forever especially if they can keep it moving and try to ignore the fact that some of those diamonds were literally covered with blood. If Hip Hop is gonna sell us all sorts of goods along with a lifestyle, maybe it can be used to warn us about things we shouldnt buy... Again props to Kanye...
Hip-hop star gives diamonds bad rap
By Susan Thea Posnock
JUNE 16, 2005 - New York -- When rapper Kanye West first wrote his new single "Diamonds from Sierra Leone," the song had a title De Beers would have been proud of: "Diamonds are Forever."
But, Vibe magazine reports that West reworked the song when he heard about conflict diamonds. Now the lyrics and new videowhich premiered on BET last nightcontrast the bling with the darker side of the trade.
"I wanted to do whatever I could to learn more and educate people about the problem," West told Billboard. The cut is No. 27 this week on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and will air on MTV's Total Request Live on Monday.
MTV reports that West pleads in his rap, "Good morning, this ain't Vietnam/ Still, people lose hands, legs, arms for real." Later in the song, he asks, "These ain't conflict diamonds, is they Jacob?"
Diamond Information Center spokesman Carson Glover said in an e-mailed statement that the issue of conflict diamonds is one the industry takes very seriously, and is united against.
"While we have not viewed Mr. West's new video, the lyrics of the song certainly do not reflect the tremendous work the diamond industry has done in conjunction with the [United Nation's] sanctioned Kimberly Process introduced in 2000," Glover said. "In response to the Kimberley Process governmental scheme, the diamond industry introduced a certificate of origin allowing only legitimate diamonds to be traded on the global market, therefore creating a zero tolerance environment for conflict diamonds around the world."
He added, "The volume of conflict diamonds in circulation is believed to have dropped below 1 percent, if any at all, and it is virtually impossible for unscrupulous dealers to sell non-certified rough diamonds."
"Diamonds" is the first single off of West's second record "Late Registration" which comes out in August. His debut album, "The College Dropout" has sold 2.7 million copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Kanye Lets us Know Diamonds Are Forever... Dripping in Blood
By Davey D
I wanna give a big shout out to Kanye West for stepping up and bringing some heat to the diamond jewelers of the world with the remix to his hit song Diamonds are Forever. In the original version, one wasnt quite sure if Kanye was praising Roc-A-Fella records which uses the diamond as a symbol or if he was giving props to cats like Jacob the Jeweler where he brought his 50 thousand dollar Jesus pendant from last year.
Apparently a few folks got at Mr. West and let him know the brutality that goes on behind the scenes inside those diamond minds in countrys like Sierra Leone just so todays rappers can bling and be iced out
Heres what Kanye had to say in his remix...
Good morning! This ain't Vietnam, still
People loses hands, legs, arms, for real
Little was known of Sierra Leone
and how it connected to the diamonds we own
When I speak of diamonds in the song
I ain't talking bout the ones to be glown
I'm talkin' bout Roc-a-Fella, my home
My chain, these ain't 'Conflict Diamonds'
Is they Jacob? Don't lie to me, man
See, a part of me say keep shinin'
How? When I know what a 'Blood Diamond' is
Though it's thousands of miles away
Sierra Leon connected to what we go through today
Over here, it's a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charms-es
I thought my Jesus piece was so harmless
'Til I seen a picture of a shorty armless
And here's the conflict...
It's in a black person's soul to rock that gold
Spend your whole life tryin' get that ice
Oh, the Polo rugby, you look so nice
How could something so wrong make me feel so right?
Right before I beat up myself like Ike
You could still throw your Roc-A-Fella Diamond tonight
Because...Diamonds Are Forever
Needless to say once Kanye spit those verses on a remix that included Jay-Z, he left quite a few folks in the diamond industry a bit upset. I guess these outfits do not want a repeat of what happened in 1986 when a number of prominent artists like Afrika Bambaataa and members of Blackwatch before they became X-Clan, just to name a few sat down and met in a hush-hush closed door meeting and decided to use their clout to encourage the Hip Hop community to stop purchasing Fat Gold chains.
There were two factors motivating this move. First, there was the unprecedented amount of violence and robberies that were coming upon rappers and their fans who sported this overpriced piece of jewelry. Second, was the fact that a lot of this gold was coming straight from South Africa where Apartheid was still in effect and it was being sold to a predominantly African American clientele by Korean merchants who seemed to have racial hang ups. This was a quite meeting with no cameras and a lot of fan fare but the end result was devastating for those who sold gold The strategy was to remove value from the fat gold chains and place them on cloth medallions that sported a picture of the African continent. Within a year, Hip Hoppers started sporting these inexpensive cloth medallions which in their mind was just as valuable if not more so then the gold chains.
People began to use their creativity and new found pride to adorn these medallions with more complex pictures and other Afrocentric symbols. It wasnt long before people from other ethnic backgrounds started adapting their own symbols to represent their heritage. Gold chains were passé and 10 dollar medallions were in
Like I said this wasnt a thing that the media jumped on. Not a whole lot of folks within Hip Hop or know about this meeting, but retailers who saw a good chunk of their income vanish overnight became well aware of Hip Hops consumer power. Hence when Kanye decided to do something bigger and better then a secret meeting, but instead a put out a number one song, you can clearly understand the cause for concern. If Hip Hop which has been responsible for reviving the cognac and liquor industry (Hennesy Couversoir, Don P), increasing the sales of major designer clothing manufactures by as much as 1/3, and creating the multi-million dollar cell phone ring tone industry to name few, imagine what would happen if artists and their fans said No to diamonds?
What I find even more interesting is the type of reaction or lack of reaction of Kanyes peers, some who are rolling around with diamond encrusted chains worth 200 thousand dollars and up. I wanna know their thought process when they are confronted with a song that provides the in your face information about their brothers and sistas dying to mine the diamonds that cats have around their neck. Will outlets like Jacob the Jeweler go out and hire a P-Diddy or a baby from Cash Money click to suddenly be a spokes person for the diamond industry? Heck, will they get to Kanye or his label and force him to tone it down and sweep these revelations under the rug? I mean to start one would think thered be a lot more fan fare about this remix. When I got my copy, all it touted was Jay-Z being added to the fold and not the social significance behind Kanyes new lyrics. What wouldve been an even more powerful statement is if Jay-Z spoke to the Sierra Leone situation as well.
I guess for some diamonds are forever especially if they can keep it moving and try to ignore the fact that some of those diamonds were literally covered with blood. If Hip Hop is gonna sell us all sorts of goods along with a lifestyle, maybe it can be used to warn us about things we shouldnt buy... Again props to Kanye...
Hip-hop star gives diamonds bad rap
By Susan Thea Posnock
JUNE 16, 2005 - New York -- When rapper Kanye West first wrote his new single "Diamonds from Sierra Leone," the song had a title De Beers would have been proud of: "Diamonds are Forever."
But, Vibe magazine reports that West reworked the song when he heard about conflict diamonds. Now the lyrics and new videowhich premiered on BET last nightcontrast the bling with the darker side of the trade.
"I wanted to do whatever I could to learn more and educate people about the problem," West told Billboard. The cut is No. 27 this week on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and will air on MTV's Total Request Live on Monday.
MTV reports that West pleads in his rap, "Good morning, this ain't Vietnam/ Still, people lose hands, legs, arms for real." Later in the song, he asks, "These ain't conflict diamonds, is they Jacob?"
Diamond Information Center spokesman Carson Glover said in an e-mailed statement that the issue of conflict diamonds is one the industry takes very seriously, and is united against.
"While we have not viewed Mr. West's new video, the lyrics of the song certainly do not reflect the tremendous work the diamond industry has done in conjunction with the [United Nation's] sanctioned Kimberly Process introduced in 2000," Glover said. "In response to the Kimberley Process governmental scheme, the diamond industry introduced a certificate of origin allowing only legitimate diamonds to be traded on the global market, therefore creating a zero tolerance environment for conflict diamonds around the world."
He added, "The volume of conflict diamonds in circulation is believed to have dropped below 1 percent, if any at all, and it is virtually impossible for unscrupulous dealers to sell non-certified rough diamonds."
"Diamonds" is the first single off of West's second record "Late Registration" which comes out in August. His debut album, "The College Dropout" has sold 2.7 million copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.
