Following exposure from his work with British group Damage, David began performing vocals for garage duo Artful Dodger.
The album's songs contain acoustic guitars and insistent thumps of beats and bass, with lyrics that revolve around themes of romance, the complexities of relationships, and clubbing.
David's earliest exposure came when he featured on "I'm Ready", the B-side to British boy band Damage's 1997 cover of "Wonderful Tonight"; he then began performing vocals for a few tracks with the English garage duo Artful Dodger.
Wildstar Records first became aware of David when the artist's then manager Paul Widger met the label's co-owner Colin Lester and played some of his music.
[2] The Wildstar boss was further won over when, on later visiting the artist's home in Southampton, he found that David's tiny bedroom was stacked from floor to ceiling with 12" vinyl records, commenting: "That convinced me he was the real deal and not just some kid acting out the part.
[4] Around the time that "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" began to gain commercial success, the majority of the album was recorded and produced.
[3] Hill stated he wanted to create a song that contained a garage element in order to bridge the gap between Craig's project and his previous work with The Artful Dodger.
The album's music contains acoustic guitars and prominently placed strings, layered just so over the insistent thump of beats and bass, even in the ballads.
[5] The album was noted for a range of lyrical themes from "the kind of sappy fare that lovesick teenagers play for one another late at night over the phone" to more self-consciously risque songs such as "Booty Man.
"[6] The album opens with "Fill Me In", a garage and R&B song built over plinky keyboards and sticatto strings, that lyrically speaks on a modern-day tale of forbidden love.
[7] Tracks six and eight "Last Night" and "Time to Party" both take influence from hip hop and contain spoken rap-like breakdowns, while relaying on a dance production.
"[7] "Rewind" is a collaboration with two-step band Artful Dodger, the song is a bass-heavy track that features no R&B influences, unlike the rest of the album.
[12][13] On 28 December 2009, when BBC Radio 1 presenter Nihal revealed "The Official Top 100 Songs of the Decade", "Fill Me In" was at number 93.
Born to Do It spent 52 weeks (one year) on the chart and was certified 4× Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments of 280,000 copies.
[23][24] The album saw similar success in New Zealand where it also peaked at number two on the charts and spent a total of 51 weeks before eventually being certified Platinum.
[26] Born to Do It peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard 200 and spent 62 weeks on the chart, and was eventually certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of one million copies.
[39] Davey Boy of Sputnikmusic described the album as an "excellent debut" continuing to state that David was a "mature 19-year-old singer-songwriter whose soulfully smooth voice will result in fans thinking he is singing to them and only them.