I NEED A DOLLAR…

By: M.Tony Peralta

One of my favorite TV shows is HBO’s “How to make it in America.”  I feel the show vividly captures the hustle and DIY attitude that a lot of New Yorkers have, including myself.  Right off the bat, the song that is played in the opening credits “I need a dollar” by  Aloe Blacc is incredible.  When I first heard the song, I thought it was a song from the 70′s, it gives off that kind of feel.   Reminds me of something Gil-Scott Heron has done.  I was excited to see that there’s a video for the song and to my surprise parts of the video were shot in the Heights.  If you notice the opening sequence, there’s a guy walking up the 157st train station. You see the famous Caporal Chicken signage and Boricua College to the right.  I thought to myself, how fitting to shoot some of the video Uptown.  If there’s one thing I feel we do well in the Heights is chase that American Dream by any means necessary.  Uptown is the hometown of hustle.

Enjoy the video and the song below.