From ‘7 Days’ to Forever: How Craig David’s ‘Born to Do It’ Became the ‘Gift That Keeps Giving’

At the turn of the new century, U.K.-born singer Craig David had no idea he’d soon have the R&B and pop worlds in the palm of his hand. At just 16, the precocious songwriter penned a bevy of tracks that would eventually blossom into Billboard Hot 100 heaters — laying the foundation for a career filled with musical triumphs.

Released in 2000, David’s debut album Born to Do It shook the R&B sphere. With slithery vocals and a deep-rooted command of U.K. garage music, he became a fiery anomaly in both his homeland and across the Atlantic. Songs like “Fill Me In,” “7 Days” and “Walking Away” showcased his wizardry as a singer-songwriter, blending infectious melodies with penmanship that felt both smooth and surgical. The universe returned David’s “labor of love” tenfold: Born to Do It produced two top-15 hits, with “7 Days” cracking the Hot 100’s top 10 and later earning a Grammy nomination.

With a fusion of Notorious B.I.G., Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Joe, and Usher coded in his DNA, David set the gold standard for a new millennium. His magnum opus didn’t just breathe new air into R&B and pop, it gave the U.K. daredevil the creative license and reassurance to stay adventurous throughout his 20-plus-year career.

“I think the most important takeaway is to enjoy your album as much as you did when you first made it,” David said over Zoom last week. “As much as we want new, new, new, they’re all your children. Just appreciate all of them equally — because Born to Do It is the gift that keeps giving. I love it as much as the new tunes I do today.”

As part of Billboard’s Black Music Month celebration, David spoke to Billboard about the 25th anniversary of Born to Do It, the making of his classics “7 Days” and “Fill Me In,” and more.

Before signing a recording deal, you were already crafting what became Born to Do It. Do you remember which early songs helped shape the album’s foundation?

I was living in a city called South Hampton in the U.K. and I grew up in the projects. For me, it was like a ten minute walk down to this one area where the studio was at to see Mark Hill, who produced and wrote the album with me. Bro, it was like a labor of love. There was no pressure. There was no time. Time was like, “If we’re gonna write a melody today, cool. If we’re gonna do a lyric tomorrow, cool.” It was just calm.

“Rendezvous” was one of the first tunes [made] with “Walking Away.” So I remember taking time with that, man. Mark was playing the beautiful harp. I went back to my bedroom, and just had that harp on loop. [Starts singing “Rendezvous”] and then I’d go back in. He’d put some harmonies and I just felt like the process for me was what music should be, before you get into the business of it. It was all about the music.

Also, as a DJ at the time, I was making mixtapes. For me, I always thinking how could this sit alongside “You Make Me Wanna” from Usher or how could this sit in the mix with Joe’s “Table for Two” or Tank’s “Maybe I Deserve.” When you have that as kind of your world that you’re living in, [it’s incredible.] So I was gassed when people felt it, you know what I mean? 

When you and Mark Hill were in the trenches, what did that era teach you about creativity before the industry got involved?

You know, we were on the cusp of analog getting slightly more digital. So Pro Tools wasn’t really out around those times. It was Mark using this software called Studio Vision. It didn’t have all of the things that we take for granted now when you jump on Logic or Pro Tools. One thing with Mark Hill that I appreciate and love when I listen back to that album, he was originally part of the Welsh Philharmonic Orchestra. So he has a background of playing real instruments. He loved to play percussion. 

When we went into the studio, he approached it from a very different angle to maybe some of the R&B and hip-hop I was listening to at the time. It was much more live, but we had time. I think that’s the biggest takeaway from this: Time. It just felt like nothing was rushed [and] everything had a moment to live and breathe so that we can come back to it and say, “You know what? I don’t know if it’s really the same way as it was. So let’s change that.” Or as a DJ, I did many iterations of “Rewind” by just going and playing that song in the clubs. I would be playing to 100-150 people. You’d play the tune and you’re like, “OK. It’s taking too long to get to the bassline drop,” or “The bassline is not right.” Then, you’d go back, change up and test it out again. This would go for months and then all of sudden, you’d have your song.

I feel like I haven’t changed with social media now and the pace of everything, because it’s still quality over quantity. You won’t forget once you hear a big tune licking through the speakers. 

Colin Lester heard “Walking Away” and “7 Days” and upgraded you from a developmental deal to an album deal. How did that elevation motivate you to further deliver on your debut album?

I didn’t even know what development deal even meant. I was walking into all of these different record labels in the U.K. So from all the companies like Epic, Columbia, BMG, Arista, to Warner, RCA [and] Atlantic, you just saw all these glossy walls and shiny floors. I saw big plaques from artists that I’ve grown up listening to and you want to be part of it, you know what I mean?

What was glaring too, people said, “There’s this 16-year-old kid. He has this song called ‘Walking Away,'” and, “OK. We’re in the game here, but where is it going?” In my head, I’m thinking I have “Rewind” — and there was no other song at the time that was forcing its hands onto radio and pirate radio stations. It was the biggest thing in the clubs at the time, and “Walking Away” was sitting there. So Colin was the only one that when I went into Wildstar — his record label — that he just said, off the basis of “Walking Away,” “[If you can write those lyrics] at 16, then what are we developing here?”

Everyone was talking to each other, by the way. He’d tell other A&Rs the same thing they were saying. “You know what? I think it’s a developmental deal.” He was already throwing them off the scent. He told me this after. He said, “Yeah. I told them you maybe have one song, and I’m not sure.” Clever guy. He said, “Craig. I’ll do an album deal with you off-the-bat.” I remember coming in a few weeks later and dropped him off a little gift with “Fill Me In” and “7 Days.” And the guy came through correct on that little album deal.

How did your time with Artful Dodger shape your musical instincts going into Born to Do It?

I think what I felt was different when I was growing up in South Hampton was it wasn’t a city that was known for its musical export. It was all very London-centric at the time. So being able to work with the Artful Dodger, they started having some heat on them with some club performances that they were going in London. We did a song called “What You Gonna Do” — which was one of the first songs I did with them as a featured artist. I was going up to London, paying my friends 50 pounds to get in his little Fiesta and have them drive me up to do one performance in the Coliseum.

I started making a little money and was doing the DJ thing. With Artful Dodger, the come-up was so strong. They had a song called “Too Fast” with Romina Johnson. So by the time “Rewind” hit, I felt that I learned a lot from their hustle. We couldn’t just stayed in South Hampton and thought someone was gonna come down and hear it. It was like, “No. You have to physically take it and put it in the shop.” So I respect them both for that. They had different personalities. Mark Hill was more of the music guy and Pete Devereux was more of the DJ.

Is it true that the album title was loosely inspired by Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?

Yeah, my guy. Still a classic in this household here. I was watching that movie from when I was a kid. It was something about the way that Charlie was coming from this working class family, and thought he wasn’t going to have a chance to win any ticket. He didn’t have the money like other people had, but he stuck in there. He stuck in there. He did the right thing.

All of a sudden, he gets to go and live his dreams. Then, when you fast forward to the end of the movie, he still had the values and morals to say, “Even though I can go out and sell this Everlasting Gobstopper right now, I’m gonna put this thing back on your desk, my man. I appreciate you. You’re the guy, Mr. Wonka.”

In the opening scene of the movie, the kids are running into the candy shop and they asked the candyman [Bill]: “How does he do it?” And he says, “My dear boy. Do you ask a fish how it swims?” The boy says “No.” He says, “Do you ask a bird how it flies?” He says, “No, surely you don’t. They do it because they were born to do it.” I was like, “Yo.” That rang off in mans head, yeah?

By the time I was doing the album, it was almost a given that’s what it was going to be called. The funny thing is the album cover came from a few shots that we did from the end of a long day of shooting, where a headphone company at the time said, “Look. We’ll give you some free headphones. Can you just take a couple of pictures quickly?” So we say yeah, just for an internal office picture. Next thing you know, we look back at the whole shoot and we’re like, “I don’t know. That one with you holding the headphones looking up seeing Born to Do It [is pretty good].” It ended up being the cover.

Your first single was “Fill Me In.” How would you describe the traction from the U.K. where it was first released, versus when it landed in the States? 

I think off the back of “Rewind” having so much success, I could feel people’s anticipation. “Fill Me In” was my tune from [the beginning]. I was like, “I can’t wait until we get to this.” [Starts humming the song] The guitar riff alone? Forget what I did on it. I was like, “This thing is crazy.” There’s certain guitar licks where you just have to respect the guitar. Like John Mayer when he has the song “Neon,” you hear that rift. You don’t know what you’re going to put on it, but the guitar is hard within itself. 

I think because “Fill Me In” started to garner this vibe of being garage, but also being R&B, and my flow was inspired by Twista and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, anyone that could spit that speed, I was about that life. Beyoncé, when you listen to her early stuff, she has that. She has that cadence. She can ride with melody. Being able to put a melody on that felt like what we could do. Young kids running around and parents trying to find out what we were up to, that’s just how it was going down.

It was real talk, but the way that it hit when I did the acoustic performances in the U.K., I think there was a moment here in the U.K. before I came to the U.S. When they saw me do it acoustically, I think at that point — people were like, “OK. He has some R&B about him, it’s not just straight garage music.” It’s like you’re doing a pop song, but R&B. So by the time it hit and I came to the States, we did a new video for it. Mans was in Miami for the first time. That changed my life. It hit differently and I think the States embracing it was a huge move, because Garage was a very U.K. thing. So the fact it translated was big. 

You released two different versions for the “Fill Me In” video — same with “Walking Away.” In terms of the former, which version means more to you today?

I still think it’s the original from the U.K. Don’t get me wrong, I grew up on so much U.S. R&B and hip-hop. I was that guy when it came to vinyl, I was so in it. So the fact that I was doing a pirate radio station setup as my opening vibe, and reenacting being on the side of the building, and hiding from the father, it was my first video. It was my first moment. When I came to Miami, it was different. I was hearing Black Rob, “Whoa.” Carl Thomas’ “I Wish” was playing at the same time. And I was just like, “This is a wave.” And I’m here doing a video in Miami. It was crazy. 

What about “Walking Away”?

Yeah, I still gotta say the U.K. [version]. There was something about getting out of the car in the middle of traffic and walking down the roads. I just felt so much. I was in traffic, and this thing was kicking off in the car. Rather than entertaining it and just riding it out, to have the audacity to be like I’m leaving the situation, the car, the whole thing, just to do that and to be at breaking point [was crazy]. 

“Last Night” was a slept-on favorite, especially with you rapping on it. That was rare for R&B artists then. What made that song the right moment to flex that side?

You know what was funny with that? I’d written the song before I dropped “Rewind.” For me, it was like a remix in some respect. It’s crazy that I was able to take a verse from “Last Night” and I was singing that while making “Rewind” and it just stuck so well. I was like, “I didn’t really wanna make something so different. Can we not just use this and change a couple of words?” As you said, “Last Night” was ringing off it. Just the vibe of it. 

You added two more tracks to the U.S. version with “Fill Me In Pt. 2” and “Key to My Heart.” What made you decide to go that route? 

It was a hard decision, yeah? Because I knew I needed to add something for the U.S. album. The label said we needed a couple of new songs to add to this, just to bolster up. Born to Do It had been out for a bit, so I said, “OK, cool.” It needed to feel like it was part of the album. It’s quite difficult when you have a body of work that lived for awhile and then you tag on songs to something to try to make it fit. So I went in with Jeremy Paul who did the production on “Key to My Heart.”

The beauty of it was I had the “Key to My Heart” melody happening in and around Born to Do It time. So it wasn’t like “Key to My Heart” couldn’t have happened with Mark Hill, if it hadn’t been with Jeremy Paul. So when he sent over the instrumental to me before we met, I already [had the melody]. I had a few of the things there already. It was in the Born to Do It world for me. 

And the “Fill Me In Pt. 2,” that we originally did in the U.K. That was already starting to ring off at the same time as “Sunship Remix” of “Fill Me In” and “7 Days.” So it felt like it was still a part of it. It was very difficult to add something to songs that were already gone. It could feel like a tag-on. But people in the U.K. were like, ‘Why didn’t you add “Key to My Heart” to the original?’ So it worked out all right. 

You follow up “Fill Me In” with “7 Days,” which was nominated for a Grammy and peaked at No. 10 on the Hot 100. To me, that’s the snapshot of what a perfect record is, from recording to video for you. Why do you think that track is so beloved?

I feel like “7 Days” is the gift that keeps giving. It’s funny because the way me and Mark Hill were writing that song, I was in awe of his guitar. You already gave me “Fill Me In,” you already got me at hello. He would confess to you that he’s not the guitar guy. Well, last time that I checked, you’re the guitar guy. Whatever band you’re in right now, you’re the guy.

When I did “7 Days,” the melody, he was in awe of it. We were both fanboying off each other’s musical skills. So by the time it hit, when I saw the response from people — especially when I was doing photoshoots for the album and I was playing it before it came out — nobody was ripping it. Nobody in the public had it. So for the fact that we did that and people were responding, like, “Oh my God. This is a tune, this is a vibe,” I was gassed.

When we did the video — which was inspired by Groundhog Day [with] Bill Murray — [directors] Max and Dania landed it so perfectly because in a three-and-a-half-minute video, sometimes, you can have a great treatment idea, but you don’t really have much time to get it all in there, right? Especially when you’re basing it on a movie that was an hour and a half. So the fact that they got all the parts of the kids running around the corner, catching the shoes, the next time I’m waking up, you’re seeing the time and I’m clocking that. Then, the woman with the balloons, the guy setting up the papers and me being in the barbershop was something everyone could relate it.

It was so blessed, man. As you said, I’ll wholeheartedly agree with you. The visuals, the music and the way that it lives in anyone’s conversation [is special]. 

Wasn’t there a thing about you having the “Foolish” beat before Ashanti for the remix?

I remember when Irv Gotti sent that instrumental, trying to do a remix for “7 Days.” This is when Ja Rule and Ashanti are blowing up with “Always on Time.” I had the DJ Premier remix that we did, but I have this instrumental sitting on my computer already. I was like, “I don’t know how to approach this, because my favorite song is the Notorious B.I.G.’s ‘One More Chance'” [with the same DeBarge sample] So I know every time I hear that guitar riff, it’s this.

Somehow, it fell by the wayside. I longed it out, took too long to get it back, and Irv had moved on. The next thing I hear, [starts singing Ashanti’s “Foolish], and that one hit two ways: That was the one that was supposed to be “7 Days,” but I was so happy in that respect that it didn’t work out, because what they did with “Foolish” was a monster of a song. 

That Mos Def and Nate Dogg remix flew under the radar for some, but it was major. How did that collaboration even come together?

I mean, DJ Premier. Gang Starr. “Nas Is Like,” “10 Crack Commandments.” He was the guy. Anything he put, it just knocked in a different way. However he pulled the song together on his MPC 60 was different. So when I came to America, I was in New York, and I got to go to the studio and meet Premier. I was super-gassed to meet him. Seeing him pull up records, doing his little [scratches], I was like, “This is DJ Premier!” Then, I just took it back to my hotel room at the time and ended up recording most of the vocals [there].

That was mad because I wasn’t using the craziest equipment either. I was using an OK microphone going into my little OK DI-box interface. But, Mos Def, “Mr. Fat Booty,” that was my tune from my guy. The Nate Dogg one was kinda crazy, because that vocal that ended up [on the song was] me trying to do Nate Dogg. I was just trying to bring those two together. It was a vibe.

Twenty five years later, there’s a reverence and freshness that still comes with your album. Why do you think it’s aged so well? 

It’s really hard when you’re in the eye of the storm because when I was making that album, I had all the time in the world. It was a labor of love. No rush. Everything had its place. Every melody, ad-lib was seen with a fine comb. I think the collaboration between me and Mark Hill was so special, because we complemented each other. I was an R&B/hip-hop head that loved the DJ elements, he was back to his Philharmonic Orchestra, musicality, bringing things out — and we just complemented [each other].

I think maybe we weren’t trying to replicate everything. When I hear the Rodney Jerkins make Whitney Houston’s “It’s Not Right, But It’s OK,” and wholeheartedly say, “I came over to the U.K. and I heard Craig David’s ‘Fill Me In’ ringing off in the club. I went back to my studio and I had to get involved,” I’m thinking, this is Rodney Jerkins. This is Gina Thompson’s “Things You Do.” This is Brandy “Full Moon.” It was just a blessing, man. Long may those moments happen for any artists.