West originally produced and recorded "Gold Digger" in Ludacris's home in Atlanta, Georgia for Shawnna's 2004 debut album "Worth tha Weight" and had written the chorus from a female first-person viewpoint. However, Shawnna passed on the song. West rewrote the two verses from a male's point-of-view for himself; about a year later, just before "Gold Digger" was set to be released, adding a third verse, recording and mastering it at Sony Music Studios in New York in a week. After he went with friend John Mayer to see Foxx's portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 film "Ray", West decided to have Foxx sing an interpolation of Charles' song "I Got a Woman" in place of the original sample. Once the track was in place, it was layered with additional instruments provided by Brion and individually selected by West.