I Need a Dollar
single
CoverAloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar.jpg
ArtistAloe Blacc
AlbumGood Things
ReleasedMarch 16, 2010[1]
Recorded2010
GenreSoul
Length4:04[1]
LabelStones Throw Records, Sony Music Entertainment UK
WriterLeon Michels, E. Nathaniel Dawkins, Nick Movshon, Jeff Dynamite
ProducerLeon Michels, Jeff Dynamite
Prev year2006
Next year2011

"I Need a Dollar" is a song performed by American singer Aloe Blacc, written by Blacc, Leon Michels, Nick Movshon and Jeff Dynamite.[2]

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.[3] It also featured in the game Fight Night Champion. 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[4]
  1. "I Need a Dollar" – 4:05
  2. "I Need a Dollar" (Radio Mix) – 3:22
  3. "I Need a Dollar" (Zinc Remix) – 5:48
  4. "I Need a Dollar" (Blue Fear Trance Remix) – 10:49
German digital single[5]
  1. "I Need a Dollar" – 4:02
  2. "I Need a Dollar" (Tensnake Remix) – 6:45
  3. "I Need a Dollar" (M.Arfmann & Chassy Wezar RMX) – 3:27

Charts

Weekly charts

ChartPeak
position
Europe (Hot 100)[6]16

Year-end charts

Chart (2010)Position
Austrian Singles Chart[7]57
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[8]18
Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia)[9]55
French Singles Chart[10]86
Germany Singles Chart[11]86
Swiss Singles Chart[12]55
Chart (2011)Position
Australian Singles Chart[13]64
Irish Singles Chart[14]20
Italy (Musica e dischi)[15]68
Swiss Singles Chart[16]61
UK Singles Chart[17]18

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.[18]

References

  1. ^ "I Need a Dollar". Amazon UK. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
  2. ^ "I Need a Dollar" (in Dutch). Dutch Charts. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
  3. ^ Stanley, Alessandra. TELEVISION REVIEW | 'HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA'; The Dream, Without The Drive. The New York Times. February 12, 2010.
  4. ^ "I Need A Dollar". amazon.co.uk
  5. ^ "I Need A Dollar". amazon.de
  6. ^ [ I Need a Dollar - Aloe Blacc]. Billboard.
  7. ^ "Jahreshitparade 2010". Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
  8. ^ "Ultratop Belgian Charts". ultratop.be. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
  9. ^ "Ultratop Belgian Charts". ultratop.be. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
  10. ^ "BILAN ECONOMIQUE 2010". Retrieved 2011-09-25.
  11. ^ "VIVA Single Jahrescharts 2010 - 2010". Archived from the original on 2011-12-08. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
  12. ^ "Swiss Year-End Charts 2010". swisscharts.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
  13. ^ "Adele's "21" crowned ARIA's highest selling album of 2011 LMFAO takes single honours with "Party Rock Anthem"". Retrieved 2012-01-01.
  14. ^ "Best of 2011". IRMA. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  15. ^ Racca, Guido. "2011". musica e dischi Top 100 Year-End 1960 - 2018 (in Italian). pp. 136–139. ISBN 9781980329121.
  16. ^ "SCHWEIZER JAHRESHITPARADE 2011". hitparade.ch. Archived from the original on 2013-08-15. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  17. ^ "The Top 20 biggest selling singles of 2011 revealed!". Official Charts Company. 2012-01-02.
  18. ^ "I Need a Dollar - Single by Deekline & Ed Solo on Apple Music". iTunes