This was Late Registration’s lead single, and it was technically a bonus track on the album.

Jay-Z would later jump on the track for the remix.

West explained the inspiration for the song to MTV:

Mark Romanek, the director that did Jay’s “99 Problems,” and Q-Tip both brought up blood diamonds. They said, “That’s what I think about when I hear diamonds. I think about kids getting killed, getting amputated in West Africa.” And Q-Tip’s like, “Sierra Leone,” and I’m like, “Where?” And I remember him spelling it out for me and me looking on the Internet and finding out more. I think that was just one of those situations where I just set out to entertain, but every now and then God taps me on the shoulder and says, “Yo, I want you to do this right here,” so he’ll place angels in my path and one angel will lead to another angel and it’s like a treasure hunt or something. And I finally found the gold mine, which was the video “Diamonds (From Sierra Leone).”