- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
A truly passionate and expressive collection of songs that will live long in the memories of all who listen to it.
-
BlenderAnd if he occasionally errs on the side of self-indulgence... so be it; for every moment of youthful overreach, there's another that shows a promising new talent in first bloom. [Aug/Sep 2001, p.121]
-
Sharing with Marvin Gaye and D'Angelo the ability to sing in forceful anger while seducing you with sweet talk, this 22-year-old Philadelphia singer positions himself to become the next great soul man.
-
It delivers the ultimate knockout--sticky R&B grooves and a heavenly falsetto that point to greats like Marvin Gaye ("Soul Sista") and Stevie Wonder ("Queen Sanity").
-
If it isn't quite the debut that new soul touchstones like D'Angelo's Brown Sugar and Erykah Badu's Baduizm were, it's certainly far more ambitious...
-
While Bilal's vocal gymnastics -- high-arching notes, off-rhythm choruses and complex harmonies -- add texture to these songs, many of them sound too musically similar to everything else in the neo-soul movement. He's at his best on the tracks that he or his partner, Dahoud Darien, have produced themselves.
-
SpinThe only drawback is that in his expansiveness, Bilal forgot to give himself that killer tune or two that would bring it all home. [Sep 2001, p.158]
-
The overreaching inevitably hurts the disc's consistency in spots, but it's easy to admire Bilal's ambition, and when it works, it works well. He can't quite do it all, but he does what he can as well as anyone out there, making 1st Born Second sound like the first highlight in a compelling career.
-
UrbWhile the debut from the classically trained Philly native runs a little long, it's still an impressive and diverse hack at that tricky hip-hop/soul niche. [Sep 2001, p.148]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 15 out of 19
-
Mixed: 0 out of 19
-
Negative: 4 out of 19
-
Jul 1, 2019One of the most underrated albums from the neo-soul movement. 18 years later and it’s still just as beautiful.
-
[Anonymous]May 26, 2005
-
SuneRApr 22, 2003Really good... he has a fantastic voice.