Alicia Keys and the late Isaac Hayes, as photographed in Downtown New York by Anderson Ballantyne in 1998.

“One of my favorites is ‘Rock Wit U,’” Alicia tells Tidal. “When I was first starting, I didn’t really know how to produce. I didn’t really know how to create the music that I wanted to hear. I knew what I wanted it to feel like and sound like, but I didn’t exactly know how to do it. One of the techniques that I used was, I would listen to all of my favorite records. I would listen to Babyface, Isaac Hayes, Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige… I would listen to all these different ways of producing music. I would be on the back of the album. I would be listening for what instruments were in it so that I could understand how to produce a record. How to put it all together. How to bring sonics in that made it feel full. Isaac Hayes was one of the most amazing arrangers and producers of all time, period. ‘Rock Wit U’ was definitely inspired by his style of creating music."