8701
album by Usher
8701 is the third studio album by American singer Usher, released in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2001, and in the United States on August 7, 2001, by Arista Records. Recording was handled by several producers including The Neptunes, Jermaine Dupri, Babyface, Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Mike City, Bryan Michael Cox, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Although intended for an October 31, 2000, release under the title All About U, the album was delayed numerous times, following the leak of several tracks onto the online music store Napster. Usher subsequently recorded new tracks and released the album under the new title, 8701, which is derived from Usher having sung for the first time in his local church in 1987 and the album's US release date of August 7, 2001. The single "Can U Help Me" was supplied with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later Windows versions to showcase Windows Media Player 11 and higher WMP versions.
8701 takes inspiration from multiple artists, including Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Michael Jackson. It follows the theme of Usher's relationship experience, along with the emotions of love and heartache. Usher promoted the album by embarking on the supporting tour, 8701 Evolution Tour in 2002, his first concert tour, to which it he performed in forty-four shows across North America. He also made appearances in television shows, including Live! with Regis and Kelly and Total Request Live.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “8701” as album by Usher. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as album by Usher. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1954044. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2001, 2000, 1987 and 2002.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “8701” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.