--- description: In a previously unseen video from 2003 title: Watch Kanye West and John Legend Perform an Early Version of 'Gold Digger' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Kanye West and John Legend Perform an Early Version of 'Gold Digger' by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 11, 2015 5:48 PM CUT by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 11, 2015 5:48 PM CUT Kanye West’s mega-hit “Gold Digger” came out in 2005, but this recently unearthed video shows the rapper performing a very early version all the way back in 2003\. This was a few months before his debut album _The College Dropout_ was released and he was still relatively unknown to the masses. The [video is from](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aauh22zcq9A "undefined") the second annual Dynamic Producer Conference and also features a young John Legend, who accompanies Kanye on piano. It’s a pretty bare-bones version of the song, but you can see the framework for the future hit. Oh, and as you can see, Kanye’s rocking a backpack and a very bright Reese’s shirt. So much has changed. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3740771/kanye-west-john-legend-original-gold-digger-2003/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3740771/kanye-west-john-legend-original-gold-digger-2003/"},"headline":"Watch Kanye West and John Legend Perform an Early Version of 'Gold Digger'","datePublished":"2015-03-11T17:48:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:17:35.103Z","description":"In a previously unseen video from 2003","url":"https://time.com/3740771/kanye-west-john-legend-original-gold-digger-2003/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3740771/kanye-west-john-legend-original-gold-digger-2003/","name":"Watch Kanye West and John Legend Perform an Early Version of 'Gold Digger'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Five Things Kanye West Is Better At Than You","description":"We take a look at the top five thing Kanye West is amazing at ... according to Kanye.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PuUqNINz/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-14T21:11:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PuUqNINz.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3740771/kanye-west-john-legend-original-gold-digger-2003/","duration":"PT1M50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3740771/kanye-west-john-legend-original-gold-digger-2003/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```