''1st Born Second'' is the debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by the American singer-songwriter

Bilal __NOTOC__ Bilal may refer to: People * Bilal (name) (a list of people with the name) * Bilal ibn Rabah, a companion of Muhammad * Bilal (American singer) * Bilal (Lebanese singer) Places * Bilal Colony, a neighbourhood of Korangi Town in Karac ...

, released on July 27, 2001, by

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner ...

. Bilal recorded the album at Electric Lady Studios in New York with a host of record producers, including

Aaron Comess Spin Doctors are an American alternative rock band from New York City, best known for their early 1990s hits "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong", which peaked on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart at No. 7 and No. 17, respec ...

Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and w ...

, Mike City,

Megahertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one ...

, Raphael Saadiq, and

J Dilla J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon vari ...

. It was a critical success and charted at number 31 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200, eventually selling 319,000 copies. According to

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

biographer Andy Kellman, the album was an "exemplary" release of the retro-inspired

neo soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and con ...

genre, although Bilal's subsequent work would become increasingly distinctive and modern.

Background

developed an interest in singing while growing up in the

Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * G ...

area of Philadelphia, where he participated in a church choir at the behest of his Baptist mother. On occasional trips to the city's

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

clubs with his father, he witnessed the working habits and lifestyles of musicians, which inspired him to pursue music seriously. Starting as a vocal student at the

Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, commonly known as CAPA, is a magnet school in South Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the edge of the Christian Street Historic District. It is a part of the School Distr ...

, Bilal advanced to studying the

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (k ...

and language shared by the instrumentalist students so he could socialize with them. In 1999, Bilal went to New York City to train at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where he developed a reputation among his peers for challenging their musical sensibilities. He also frequented the city's

Wetlands Preserve Wetlands Preserve, commonly referred to as Wetlands, was a nightclub in New York City that opened in 1989 and closed in 2001. It was located at 161 Hudson Street in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood. Wetlands has been called "ground zero for p ...

nightclub and met members of the

Soulquarians The Soulquarians were a rotating collective of experimental Black music artists active during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Members of the collective included singer and multi-instrumentalist D'Angelo, drummer and producer Ahmir "Questlove" Th ...

(including

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally ...

The Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

, and

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by R&B, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut al ...

), a rotating collective of experimental black music artists who often collaborated on each other's recordings. A demo recorded with the musician

, who Bilal met at a

jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ...

set up by New School professors, earned the singer a recording contract from

and encouraged his exit from the school to concentrate on music professionally. His performance at a 1999

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. ...

tribute concert generated much

buzz Buzz may refer to: People *Buzz (nickname), a list of people * J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner (born 1967; aka ''Dr. Buzz''), American forensic psychologist and journalist Fictional characters *Buzz, a character in the 1987 American comedy movie '' Rev ...

in the music industry.

Recording and music

Spin Doctors at Mystic Blues Festival (16264820186)

After signing to Interscope in 1999, Bilal wrote songs and improvised with a band at a warehouse in New Jersey in preparation for the album's recording, which took place at Electric Lady Studios in New York around 1999 and 2000. In December 1999, while reviewing Bilal's Prince tribute performance at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

, ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'' reported that the album was expected by Spring of next year. However, the release encountered delays as Interscope pressured the singer into collaborating with more popular record producers, including

and Soulquarians member

, who helped refine Bilal's stylistically-varied and free-form approach into more structurally-defined songs to the label's liking. This process extended the recording for approximately another year. Comess participated in the recording as a bassist, drummer, producer, and engineer. The Soulquarians also contributed production.Columnist.
Review: ''1st Born Second''
. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'': T.14. October 12, 2001. ''1st Born Second'' features an eclectic sound with elements of jazz, hip hop, scat,

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

, and

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...

.Kot, Greg.
Review: ''1st Born Second''
". ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'': 23. September 28, 2001.Phipps, Keith
Review: ''1st Born Second''
'' The A.V. Club''. Retrieved on 2009-08-26
Archived
2009-09-04. According to Mark Anthony Neal, its title originates from the idea that Bilal is the "first born prodigal son of the second generation of contemporary soul stirrers", referring to the group of artists associated with the

movement. The singer's name also serves as an acronym for "Beloved, Intelligent, Lustful and Livin' It".Needham, Alex
Review: ''1st Born Second''
''NME''. Retrieved on 2009-08-12.

Critical reception

''1st Born Second'' was met with widespread critical acclaim. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album has an average score of 82, based on 17 reviews.''1st Born Second'' (2001): Reviews

. Retrieved on 2009-08-12
Archived
2009-08-16. The album received rave reviews from ''

'', ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'', and ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'',Cepeda, Raquel
Review: ''1st Born Second''
. ''

''. Retrieved on 2009-08-12. and it also received comparisons to the music of

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, s ...

, Sly & the Family Stone,

, and

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music.

.Product Page: ''1st Born Second''
Muze. Retrieved on 2009-08-26.Caramanica, Jon
Review: ''1st Born Second''
'' Blender''. Retrieved on 2010-03-29. Reviewing for ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television ...

'', Neal hailed the album as "one of the most significant debuts in black pop during the past 25 years".Neal, Mark Anthony
Review: ''1st Born Second''

. Retrieved on 2021-01-02. '' Vibe''s Tamika Andeson called it "one of the best R&B albums of the year".Anderson, Tamika.
Review: ''1st Born Second''
. '' Vibe'': 242. September 2001. According to

's Andy Kellman, "at that point, the closest points of comparison were

D'Angelo Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" ...

and

Maxwell Maxwell may refer to: People * Maxwell (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** James Clerk Maxwell, mathematician and physicist * Justice Maxwell (disambiguation) * Maxwell baronets, in the Baronetage of ...

, yet Bilal was more dynamic than the former and less mannered than the latter. ''1st Born Second'' carried an energy that neither one of those singers, as hot as they were at the time, could boast." Some reviewers were less impressed. ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally ...

'' magazine's Tony Green said that the album is musically expansive but lacking "that killer tune or two that would bring it all home, that one memorable melody that would make the album more than the sum of its incense 'n' dreads textures". In an essay accompanying the Pazz & Jop critics poll, in which ''1st Born Second'' finished in the top 100,

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

named Bilal among the "profusion of R&B also-rans" that he hopes "will develop material nobody can deny".

Track listing

Information is taken from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are des ...

.Track listing and credits as per liner notes for ''1st Born Second'' album

Charts

Personnel

Credits are taken from

. Credits: ''1st Born Second'' Allmusic. Retrieved on 2010-03-28. * Bilal – vocals, drums, clavier, producer *

– producer * Greg Burns – assistant engineer, mixing * Larry Chatman – project coordinator * Mike City – multi instruments, producer * Aaron Comess – bass, drums, producer, engineer, mixing engineer * Tom Coster, Jr. – keyboards * Jim Danis – assistant engineer, mixing * Dahoud Darien – producer * Vidal Davis – producer, engineer *

Russell Elevado Russell Elevado (born 1966 in the Philippines) is a recording engineer and record producer based in New York City. Accolades Russell Elevado has a catalog of 50 full albums from the over 100 albums in his discography. Elevado earned a Grammy A ...

– mixing * Mike Elizondo – guitar, keyboards * Todd Farrell – assistant engineer * Drew FitzGerald – art direction * Serban Ghenea – guitar, mixing * Robert Glasper – keyboards, keyboard accordion * James Hurt – string arrangements * Jay Dee – producer * Gintas Janusonis - drums, percussion * Andres Levin – engineer, mixing * Steve Mandel – mixing * Artemio Villeda Martín – executive producer * Alan Mason – mixing * Sid McCoy – narrator * Mel-Man – keyboards, producer * Peter Mokran – mixing engineer * Mike Moreno – guitar *

Mos Def Yasiin Bey (; born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), previously and more commonly known by his stage name Mos Def (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. His hip hop career began in 1994, alongside his siblings in the s ...

– rap * Damu Mtume – executive producer * Neil Pogue – mixing engineer * James Poyser – organ, producer, Fender Rhodes * Raphael Saadiq – producer * Jon Smeltz – engineer *

– producer * Mike Starr – guitar * Kendal Stubbs – engineer * John Tyree – assistant engineer, mixing

References

Footnotes Bibliography * * *

External links

* {{Authority control 2001 debut albums Albums produced by Dr. Dre Albums produced by Dre & Vidal Albums produced by J Dilla Albums produced by Questlove Albums produced by Raphael Saadiq Albums produced by James Poyser Interscope Records albums Bilal (American singer) albums Albums produced by Mike City Albums produced by Melvin "Mel-Man" Bradford Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios