"I Need a Dollar" is a song performed by American singer Aloe Blacc, written by Blacc, Leon Michels, Nick Movshon and Jeff Dynamite.
It is the intro song for the HBO show How to Make It in America, and was featured as the iTunes Single of the Week.Stanley, Alessandra. TELEVISION REVIEW | 'HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA'; The Dream, Without The Drive. The New York Times. February 12, 2010. It also featured in the game Fight Night Champion (2011). Blacc has performed the song live on Later... with Jools Holland, The Graham Norton Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and Conan. In April 2011, it was featured in a commercial for Boost Mobile wireless services.
Music video The standard version of the song has two music videos. The first, released in 2010, was filmed in New York, and features the screen being split in half. The right side shows Blacc singing inside an apartment while the left side shows a man walking through the streets of New York. Once Aloe enters the left side after the line "Maybe it's inside the bottle" and performs at a bar, the song changes to "Life So Hard".
The second, released in 2011, was filmed in and around Las Vegas and was directed by Derek Pike. The video shows Blacc walking alone along a highway in Nevada, and then hitching a ride to Las Vegas, where he finds a dollar coin on the casino floor, uses it to play a slot machine, and wins.
Formats and track listings UK digital single "I Need a Dollar" – 4:05 "I Need a Dollar" (Radio Mix) – 3:22 "I Need a Dollar" (Zinc Remix) – 5:48 "I Need a Dollar" (Blue Fear Trance Remix) – 10:49
German digital single "I Need a Dollar" – 4:02 "I Need a Dollar" (Tensnake Remix) – 6:45 "I Need a Dollar" (M.Arfmann & Chassy Wezar RMX) – 3:27
Charts
Weekly charts ChartPeakpositionEurope (Hot 100)[ I Need a Dollar - Aloe Blacc]. Billboard.16
Year-end charts Chart (2010) Position Austrian Singles Chart57 Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)18 Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia)55 French Singles Chart86 Germany Singles Chart86 Swiss Singles Chart55 Chart (2011) Position Australian Singles Chart64 Irish Singles Chart20 Italy (Musica e dischi)68 Swiss Singles Chart61 UK Singles Chart18
Certifications
Samples and covers Various hip-hop artists have sampled "I Need a Dollar" or freestyled over the instrumental, including Yelawolf, T.I., Wax, Dumbfoundead, Chris Webby, MGK, and Mac Miller, and Sammy Adams.
Australian artist Xavier Rudd covered "I Need a Dollar" on 'Like a Version', a segment on the Australian radio station 'Triple J'
British artists Ed Solo and Deekline together remixed "I Need A Dollar" and released it as a single with the same name.
References
External links