Peak
27
Weeks
4
Score
378
Chart Year
2016
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Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye hooks up with Kendrick Lamar here. The pair rap and croon about their upbringings on the mean streets of Toronto and Compton. The sidewalks they began their careers on were a stable support for their grind during their early days. Tesfaye and Lamar first met during the recording of Drake's Take Care in 2011. Both artists contributed to that album, ("Crew Love" and "Buried Alive Interlude," respectively), before they had achieved commercial success with their own careers. Tesfaye told Beats 1's Zane Lowe how Lamar paced around writing his rhymes over the course of a day in the studio. "He'd walk around. He'd play the record over and over again. I played him songs, the Starboy theme of course, which he incorporated into his verse. He would just walk around. We had food. He's writing his verse in his head. He would go into his phone, look at it a few and then put it back and start walking around. He then at one point he went into the studio booth and I closed the door and I could hear him yelling his verse in his head. He was really committed, you can tell he put his all into it." "It wasn't just a random Kendrick Lamar verse," he added. "It was something special because, again, I don't like to say this all the time, but we've known each other for a while and it's crazy how we started connecting on this record." Michigan singer-songwriter Daniel Wilson co-wrote the song and also croons the post-hook. It represented his first credit on a major recording artist's album.
Uh-uh, uh, uh Uh-uh, uh, yeah, ah I ran out of tears when I was eighteen So nobody made me but the main streets 'Cause too many people think they made me Well if they really made me, then replace me Homeless to Forbes list, these niggas bring no stress I feel like Moses, I feel like I'm chosen And if you ain't my nigga then your girl single to me I don't give a damn if a nigga said he knew me Grew up with no father so nobody ever "son" me My flow too sick, Kevin Costner couldn't touch me I know you wish that nobody ever loved me I feel useless when I'm never making money Well, this the life we always fantasized Rich folk problem through a Queen Street nigga's eyes Every time you see me pulling up in Aventadors Just know we been grinding on them sidewalks Sidewalks saved my life They don't ever lie Sidewalks saved my life They showed me all the signs They don't let me down But they lead me on And they don't let me down But they lead me on And they lead me on Say, say say I come from murder one, brung late night melee Say, say, say We hung all summer, sprung mattress with bae bae Say, say, say Trippin' off dyke, and my name strike with pay day Say, say, say Flippin' blue lighting, tightening, strapped with AK Say, say, say OG one, told me one, show me one, eight ways How to segue Pussy, power, profit and headache I reminisce my life innocence Or life innocent, or life intimate, with fame Like limo tint with light women, dark women in it Aw Kenny, good game She wanna hang with a Starboy The sun and the moon and star, boy Astronomer, anonymous I line 'em up, grind 'em up, these nine of us And five of us have probably fucked She mollied up, I tallied up all the parts, boy Twenty legs, arms, head (head) Head, head, more head (head) Oh God bless the dead (yeah) I'm livin' life, high off life I wear my chokes off to bed I'm the greatest nigga, why you so scared to say it? I wanna rock, I wanna rock, I wanna cop more land I never stop I wanna quick advance on a bill if it ain't one Break everything, I'm a hustler, came from Sidewalks saved my life (sidewalks saved my life) They don't ever lie Sidewalks saved my life (sidewalks saved my life) They showed me all the signs They don't let me down But they lead me on They don't let me down But they lead me on And they lead me on
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dec 17, 2016 | 27 | 99 |
| 2 | Dec 24, 2016 | 54 | 72 |
| 3 | Dec 31, 2016 | 82 | 44 |
| 4 | Jan 7, 2017 | 97 | 29 |