1st Born Second


1st Born Second is the debut album of American neo soul musician Bilal, released July 17, 2001 on Interscope Records. Production for the album was handled primarily by Bilal and Aaron Comess. Bilal's stage name also serves as an acronym for "Beloved, Intelligent, Lustful and Livin' It". Bilal was trained in jazz and classical music before recording and joining the Soulquarians collective, which contributed in producing the album. 1st Born Second features an eclectic sound incorporates musical elements of jazz, hip hop, scat, reggae, and rock music.
The album charted at number 31 on the U.S. Billboard 200, eventually selling 319,000 copies. It was also a critical success.

Background

Bilal began to familiarize himself with the music scene in New York City, meeting big talents such as Common, The Roots, and Erykah Badu. Eventually, he was discovered by Aaron Comess from the Spin Doctors during an after-school jam session. It was with him that Bilal recorded his demo that landed him a record deal with Interscope.

Critical reception

1st Born Second was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, 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.
The album received rave reviews from The Village Voice, Chicago Sun-Times, and USA Today, and it also received comparisons to the music of Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone, Prince, and Curtis Mayfield. Music writer Mark Anthony Neal of PopMatters cited the album as "one of the most significant debuts in black pop during the past 25 years". Vibes Tamika Andeson called it "one of the best R&B albums of the year".
Some reviewers were less impressed. Spin 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 his essay accompanying the Pazz & Jop critics poll, in which 1st Born Second finished in the top 100, Robert Christgau named it among the "profusion of R&B also-rans" that he hopes "will develop material nobody can deny".

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

Credits for 1st Born Second adapted from Allmusic.