This song is about Roc-A-Fella records, which is West's label. The chorus, "Throw your diamonds in the sky" refers to the Roc-A-Fella hand signal, which is the shape of a diamond. West makes it clear, however, that real diamonds are a different story, as many of them are mined using child slave labor in African nations like Sierra Leone. His aim was to show that the profits from these illicit "blood diamonds" bankroll civil wars in these African nations.
This is based on the song "Diamonds Are Forever" by Shirley Bassey. Written by John Barry and Don Black, "Diamonds Are Forever" is the theme to the James Bond movie of the same name released in 1971.
This won the 2006 Grammy for Best Rap Song. Late Registration also won for Best Rap Album, beating out Common's Be, which West also worked on.
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