The crooner born Abel Tesfaye is arguably the world’s biggest R&B star du jour, spawning a genre, PBR&B — that’s Pabst Blue Ribbon & R&B meshed together — that’s alternatively known as hipster R&B, or alt R&B. Dripping sex, drugs and indie rock samples, The Weeknd evolved from being a reticent (with the press, anyway) Ethiopian kid from Toronto to one of a very elite few who has had back to back No. 1 hits. The Weeknd’s mythos, created in the age of hyperinformation, may have been the reason he shot to fame as well; that, and his super slick falsetto and made-for-sexytime songs. Still, the artist was inspired by quite a few musicians in his time; here’s 8 acts without whom the Weeknd wouldn’t be who he is.

Drake

Let’s start with the obvious: When the Weeknd first released his songs on YouTube, they blew up due to Drake's manager, Oliver El-Khatib, who posted them to the OVO blog. The atmospheric tracks eventually made their way to Drake, who featured the Weeknd on his double-platinum 2011 album, Take Care. (A lot of songs that Tesfaye wrote for House of Balloons ended up as Drake’s.) “I gave up almost half of my album,” he said in a Complex magazine interview. He may have regretted it later, but added: “It's hard. I will always be thankful — if it wasn't for the light he shined on me, who knows where I'd be. … You never know what I would say if this success wasn't in front of me now."