Art Quote by Rakim

I was heavily influenced by Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee, Grandmaster Caz, but I kind of wanted to take it somewhere else.

— Rakim

My first album is a lot of my personal experiences. I wanted people to relate to what I've been through.

— Rebecca Ferguson

I went along and basically learned a few of the songs they were doing at the time, which were quite a few of the…

— John Deacon

We were definitely new to the whole music thing. The first album was a real collaborative effort between us, the writers, and the A&R…

— Kevin Jonas

There's an artist that I listened to for the first time, and I really didn't like them. I had some kind of adverse reaction,…

— Regina Spektor

My first album done what it had to do. It introduced me.

— Dionne Bromfield

I was very young at the time, and I mainly appreciated their vocal qualities, even though I was already living as they did -…

— Bobby Short

I grew up in a racially mixed neighborhood. So going over to friends' houses for dinner, their parents listened to Al Green and Luther…

— Justin Townes Earle

I think writing the first album, it just felt so spontaneous. I was 17 years old learning how to write songs for the first…

— Olivia Rodrigo

I was a huge fan of this band called Sparks. It was a pretty good inauguration to music since their music is quite complex.…

— Johan Renck

My first album, it did quite well, but it wasn't this life-changing cultural thing... I'm not The Strokes.

— CMAT

When I was little, my dad showed me N.E.R.D., their first album, and I thought it was amazing. I thought Pharrell was just killing…

— Lil Xan