both Blackground and Jive; Hankerson then introduced her to recording artist and producer R. Kelly. When the pair first met, Aaliyah sang an a cappella song for Kelly, which left him impressed with her voice and he decided that he wanted to work with her. He then became her mentor, as well as the sole songwriter and producer for her debut album. Kelly was the only writer and producer credited on the album because the record label didn't want multiple people to share publishing rights. According to Jeff Sledge, "Clive was a publishing guru, so he and Barry weren’t trying to cut a lot of people in on the album to share the publishing. They said we’re going to do this with one guy and the publishing will be easy to deal with because it’s one person". Once the issue over publishing was fixed, both Aaliyah and Kelly began recording the album in 1993 when she was 14 and, according to Aaliyah, it took about eight to nine months to record the album. R. Kelly and Aaliyah worked on the record in Chicago during the summer while she was off from school for summer vacation; she would fly to Chicago from Detroit, and they would work on the album. While recording the album, the pair spent a lot of time hanging out together by going to arcades and bowling. This would help with the writing process because Kelly would "write the songs that fit her and what kids her age and her friends were talking about". According to Aaliyah, "He just spent time with me, trying to see how I thought about things and what people my age think". When discussing the writing process for the album, Aaliyah said: "We vibed off of one another, and that’s how the songs was built. He would vibe with me on what the lyrics should be. He’d tell me what to sing, and I’d sing it. That’s how the whole album was done". The duo recorded the first song "Old School" at the Chicago Recording Company in Chicago and it took at least two days to record. Aaliyah loved recording "Old School" because that song "had an Isley Brothers flair” to it. When discussing the recording process for the song, Aaliyah said: "At first, I had to get comfortable, but I had been around Robert [Kelly], so it was cool. Both Robert and