iHeartRadio Presents Black Excellence The Weeknd

The inaugural edition of Black Excellence highlights a young man who has changed the sound of R&B pop music over the past decade. We hold him in high regard for all that he has achieved and accomplished… Plus he’s one of the biggest acts to ever come out of Canada.

iHeartRadio's Dames Nellas walks you through just some of the reasons Abel Tesfaye AKA The Weeknd is an example of Black Excellence.

Hailing from the east end of Toronto, The Weeknd starting making noise in 2010, and his his critically acclaimed mixtape “House OF Balloons” was released in 2011. He’d follow up with with Thursday and Echoes of silence before signing his first record deal with Republic Records.

It didn’t take long for him to climb up the Billboard charts, landing 2 #1 ’s “Can’t Feel My Face” and “The Hills” in 2015. His album “Beauty Behind The Madness” also landed him his first Grammy for “Best Urban Contemporary Album”.  

Since then, The Weeknd has gone on to win 3 Grammys, 5 American Music Awards, 10 Junos and he’s even been nominated for an Oscar thanks to his song “Earned It".

With the success of his music, The Weeknd has been able to partner with companies like Marvel comics and Puma. 

In 2020, he announced a partnership with TD Bank to launch The Black HXUSE, which is an incubator for BIPOC entrepreneurs in Toronto. To date, he has raised over $2 million dollars to support social injustice platforms like Black Lives Matter, Colin Kaepernick's Know Your Rights defense initiative and TikTok's equal justice Initiative after the devastating explosion in Lebanon. 
 
While donating abroad is always encouraged, he has been doing his part in his home community as well. The Weeknd has donated thousands of dollars to the Ethiopic Studies program at UofT, while purchasing $500k worth of PPE for frontline staff at Scarborough Health Network to combat COVID 19

Check back for more #BlackExcellence episodes throughout #BlackHistoryMonth