Released 16 March 2010 Genre Soul | Recorded 2010 Length 4:04 | |
Format CD single, digital download Label Stones Throw Records, Sony Music Entertainment UK | ||
"I Need a Dollar" is a song performed by American singer Aloe Blacc. Blacc co-wrote the song with Leon Michels, Nick Movshon and Jeff Dynamite.
Contents
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. 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
Two versions of the video have been released. The first, the "New York" version, 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.
The second, the "Las Vegas" version directed by Derek Pike, 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
- "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
- "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
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.