Firstness of Thirdness is the final installment of a trilogy of songs which were made on an iPad mini over 2020 and combine the methods of jazz making with beat making.

The song began with the song's bassline entering Unc D's consciousness while studying the theory of Charles Peirce, from which the song gets its title. Unc created a garageband project on his iPad mini for the original midi-synth bassline, which is unique for its juxtaposition of triplets over a unique 4+2 6/4 meter feel. From there Unc wrote changes in iReal pro and sampled keys from the app so that he could add electronic drums and bass parts to round out the track.

This beat, consisting of the songs dirty bass take, wild drum sequencing and bass chords, was then brought to Thin Thicket's studio in Youngstown, OH to record a live quintet in the beat. In Feb 2020, just weeks before the lockdowns, Thin Thicket engineered this quintet, which contributed Gino West's acoustic drums, another bass track from Unc, an acoustic percussion track from Cotton Mom, and keys takes from Kevin Maxwell Smith and Thin Thicket respectively. Meanwhile, the original beat which the group played to was also sent to Akron-based trumpeter Tommy Lehman to record his lively solo heard on the first bridge of the song.

Over the summer and fall of 2020, remote recorded overdubbing was the name of the game. Starting with Cleveland's John Polace, who added much of the songs rhodes and synth parts, Firstness began to grow into the somewhat evil monster it was destined to be. The next layer of this sonic cake was added by Youngstown's John James Martin, who remote recorded vibraphone, followed by the sax solos recorded by Cleveland's Xavier Dimoff and Youngstown's Alex Miller respectively. At this point, Youngstown's Nicholas Frank contributed his two guitar solos (heard at the same time in the middle of the track), and Francesco Corrado of Italy added his rhodes and piano tracks.

Towards the end of 2020, Unc D began to make edits on this beast of a iPad garageband project. This is when the psychedelic breaks (heard in the intro and 0:35) were added. The final psychedelic break (heard at 2:28) was added terribly close to the end of Firstness' production, in a last minute risky decision to substitute the songs' final chorus with an old iPad midi beat which Unc D found while digging through old projects.

The result is a psychedelic nu jazz odyssey which features tampers heard scarcely anywhere else. As the conclusive single in Unc's iPad jazz trilogy (the first single, BLDNTHNDR, having charted on Spotify's Jazztronica playlist since its debut on Jan 1, 2021), this track and the others represent an end of an era, as Unc's production shift from the iPad-made jazz compositions which have spurred his 280 min plus catalog, to the live-band based organic "jam" and splice approach which will mark future releases.