Released January 28, 2014 Recorded 2013 Label Interscope | Format Digital download Genre Soul
R&B | |
 | ||
Length 4:16 (album version)
3:29 (radio edit) | ||
"The Man" is a song by American vocalist Aloe Blacc. First included on his EP Wake Me Up, the song was later released as the second single from his third studio album Lift Your Spirit by Interscope Records. Blacc co-wrote the track with its producers, DJ Khalil, as well as Sam Barsh and Daniel Seeff. Elton John and Bernie Taupin are also credited as co-writers, because the song's chorus is built upon an interpolation of the line "You can tell everybody" from John's 1971 single "Your Song", co-written with Taupin.
Contents
The song has become Blacc's most successful single as a solo artist to date; it sold 2.5 million copies in the United States as of December 2014, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside the United States, "The Man" topped the charts in the United Kingdom and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and Sweden. On January 22, 2014, a remix of "The Man" featuring American rapper Kid Ink was released.
Music video
A lyric video to accompany the release of "The Man" was first released to YouTube on January 10, 2014.
The song's official music video followed on March 3, 2014. The video takes place in the 1960s and 1970s and gives tribute to figures and events significant to African American culture during that era.
Below is a list of tributes to people/events in the music video.
0:39 Marvin Gaye What's Going On album cover
0:39-0:54 Violence and racial injustice at the time
0:54-1:12 Civil Rights and Vietnam war protest
1:12-1:45 Louis Armstrong or Clifford Brown
1:45-2:25 Stevie Wonder
2:25-2:57 Muhammad Ali
2:57-3:05 Soul Train
3:19-3:37 Malcolm X
3:37-3:49 Role of African Americans in politics [ Barack Obama ]
3:49---- Martin Luther King, Jr.
3:59---- Selma to Montgomery marches aka "Bloody Sunday"
4:18---- 1968 Olympics Black Power salute (back, right corner)
Commercials
In December 2013, "The Man" was used as the backdrop for a series of Beats by Dre commercials promoting the company's "Hear What You Want" campaign, which featured several notable sports personalities, including NFL players Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks and Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers, NBA player Kevin Garnett of the Brooklyn Nets, and Chelsea FC football player Cesc Fabregas, wearing Beats headphones to block out the sound of heckling from disgruntled fans.
The song was used extensively at the 2014 NFL Draft, being played 108 times over the course of the three-day event. MLB also used the song for its ads for the 2014 MLB All-Star Game. The ad shows different highlights and celebrations of possible All-Stars for 2014.