Bilal (singer)

Early life

Born in Philadelphia , PA , was named as Bilal Said Oliver . He grew up in a religiously mixed family - his mother professed Christianity, the father of Islam. He regularly attended a small church, consisting mainly of family members. It was there that Bilal became interested in music and singing ^[1] . He studied at the New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music ^[2] . In 1998 he graduated from the Higher School of Creative and Performing Arts ( English High School for Creative And Performing Arts ).

1999-2010: Debut and a pause in creativity

Bilal began his acquaintance with music in New York, listening to such artists as Common , The Roots collective, Eric Badu . He was discovered by Aaron Comes from Spin Doctors during a jam after school. It was with him that Bilal recorded his demo, which brought him a deal with Interscope Records . In 2001, the debut album 1st Born Second was released, recordings of which were attended by members of Soulquarians , as well as producers with big names, namely Dr. Dre and J Dilla ^[3] . The album reached mark 31 on the Billboard 200 , and 319,000 copies were sold. ^[4] 1st Born Second is widely recognized by music critics and has a score of 82 out of 100 on Metacritic ^[5] . The album earned rave reviews in publications by The Village Voice ^[6] , Chicago Sun-Times, and USA Today ; it was also compared to the music of Marvin Gay , Stevie Wonder , Sly & the Family Stone , Prince , Curtis Mayfield ^[5] .

The album showed a wide musical spectrum, from the emotionally charged and loved by the fans track “Soul Sista” , which reached the 18th line in the Top R & B / Hip-Hop Songs charts , to the political points of view on the tracks “Fast Lane” and “Second Child” ^[7] . Bilal managed to achieve significant success and high attendance at concerts, as many noted the possibilities of his range, the ability to sing in free form, academic falsetto ^[8] . The emotional mood of the album was indicated by the neo-soul ^[9] .

In subsequent years, Bilal continued to appear in the projects of other artists, both fairly well-known and avant-garde. In parallel, he was recording the upcoming album, which was planned for release on Interscope Records, and included materials mainly from Dr. Dre and J Dilla. As a result, everything changed and Love for Sale became an album with tracks of Bilal's own writing. Live instruments were used in the album, a completely different atmosphere reigned and as a whole differed from the previous version ^[10] . However, plans were disrupted and Bilal did not receive approval from Interscope. Not wanting to start from scratch, Bilal continued to promote the album. However, after the album ended, it completely leaked to the Internet ^[10] . Interscope postponed the album indefinitely, hinting that it has little commercial potential. What happened strongly influenced Bilal ^[11] , he was considering the option of leaving music. However, Love for Sale was downloaded more than half a million times on the Internet ^[12] , which is why Bilal started touring, despite the fact that the album never came out.

2010-Present: Return

After nine years without releasing albums, Bilal returned on September 14, 2010 with Airtight's Revenge album. The second LP was released under the independent label Plug Research. Bilal describes the album as a retrospective: an album that describes his experiences, a story about things that he understood during his absence. The experimental album Airtight's Revenge combines jazz, hip-hop, electronic music, rock, soul and blues ^[13] .

In 2012, Bilal talked about plans to create a new album under the new label eOne Music ( Entertainment One Music ) ^[14] . In several interviews, Bilal described the new project as “warmer and more sensual” than its predecessor ^[15] . The new album, called A Love Surreal, has a more acoustic sound, since this time Bilal worked very closely with his entire group. On December 5, 2012, Bilal released a mixtape called The Retrospection on Facebook ^[16] .

Six days after The Retrospection , "Back to Love" is released , the first single from A Love Surreal . On January 8, 2013, a video was released that tells the story of a drug addict in love with a doctor who ironically gives advice to his patients to help his own relationships ^[17] . The song sets the tone for the album, which, according to Bilal, reflects "the whole process [of the relationship]: meeting, parting and returning . " A Love Surreal was released on February 26, 2013 ^[18] .

With the release of A Love Surreal, Bilal immediately achieved commercial success, making his debut on the first line in the R&B iTunes chart ^[19] . On Billboard, the album debuted at number 17 on the Independent Albums chart, line 19 on the R&B Albums Chart, and line 103 on the Billboard 200 , higher than its predecessor, Airtight's Revenge . The album also received many high ratings, including 8/10 from SPIN magazine ^[20] , 4.5 / 5 stars from Allmusic and 4/4 stars from USA Today ^[21] .

Albums

Mixtapes

• The return of Mr. Wonderful (2007)
• The Retrospection (2012)

Singles

• "Love It"
• Soul Sista
• "Fast Lane"
• "Something To Hold On To"
• "Restart"
• "Little One"
• "Levels"
• "Back To Love"
• "West Side Girl"

Participation

In Common Tracks

• “Funky For You” (Common and Jill Scott ), Like Water for Chocolate album
• "Nag Champa (Afrodesiac for the World)" , Like Water for Chocolate album
• “The 6th Sense” , Like Water for Chocolate album
• "Heaven Somewhere" , Electric Circus album
• "Aquarius" , Electric Circus album
• “Star69 (PS With Love)” , album Electric Circus
• Faithful (Common and John Legend ), Be album
• “It's Your World / Pop's Reprise” , Be album
• "U, Black Maybe" , Finding Forever album
• Misunderstood Finding Forever Album
• Play Your Cards Right Finding Forever Album
• "Joy and Peace" , Black America Again album
• "Home" , Black America Again album
• “A Bigger Picture Called Free” , Black America Again album
• “Letter To The Free” , Black America Again album

Other

1999

• Grenique, tracks “Let Go” , “You Say” and “Love Within” from the album Black Butterfly ^[32]

2000

• Guru and J Dilla , track "Certified" from the album Jazzmatazz, Vol. 3: Streetsoul

2001

• Jermaine Dupree , Supafly from Instructions
• Track "Bring 2" from the soundtrack to the film Sink

2002

• Scratch, track “Square One” from The Embodiment of Instrumentation
• Talib Kveli , “Waitin 'for the DJ” and “Talkin' to You” tracks from Quality album
• Da Ranjahz and Ras Kass, track "Da Dopest"
• Jaguar Wright, track "I Can't Wait" from Denials Delusions and Decisions
• Tweet, track “Best Friend” from Southern Hummingbird
• Cherokee, track "A Woman Knows" from Soul Parade album
• John Ellis, John Brown's Gun , Nowny Dreams, and The Lonely Jesus from Roots, Branches & Leaves

2003

• Beyonce , track “Everything I Do” from the soundtrack to the movie Fighting Temptations
• Musiq , track "Dontstop / Her" from Soulstar album

2004

• Bonnie James , track "Better With Time" from Pure album
• Robert Glasper, tracks "Maiden Voyage" and "Don't Close Your Eyes" from the album Mood
• Max Herre, track "Playground" from the album Max Herre

2005

• Robert Glasper, track "Chant" from the Canvas album
• Luvpark, “Fade Away” and “Luvtheme” tracks from the Luvpark album

2006

• Pete Kozma, track "High and Dry" from the album Exit Music: Radiohead Tribute
• Clipse and Farrell Williams , track “Nightmares” from Hell Hath No Fury
• A-Alikes, track “What You Give” from I Eat You Eat album

2007

• Hezekiah, track “Looking Up” from I predict a Riot album
• Timbo King and The Last Poets, track "Trust Factor" from Spookz Who Kicked Down The Door album
• Sa-Ra, track “Sweet Sour You” from The Hollywood Recordings
• Jay-Z , the track "Fallin" from the American Gangster album
• The Randy Watson Experience, track “Can't Hide Love” from Interpretations: Celebrating the Music of Earth, Wind & Fire
• Common, track "Play Your Cards Right" in the soundtrack for the movie Trump Aces

2008

• Ghostface Killah and Prodigy from Mobb Deep , track "Trials of Life" in the unknown mixtape DJ Green Lantern
• Erica Badu , tracks "The Healer", "My People", "Soldier", "Twinkle" and "Master Teacher" from the album New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
• The Game , track "Cali Sunshine" from the LAX album (album)
• Solange , track "Cosmic Journey" from the album Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
• MOP, track "Get Rich"
• 88-Keys, MILF from The Death of Adam
• Scarface , track “Can't Get It Right” from Emeritus album
• J Dilla, track “Remember”

2009

• Zap Mama, track "The Way You Are" from ReCreation album
• Shafiq Hussein, track “Cheeba” from En 'A-Free-Ka album
• Robert Glasper, “All Matter” and “Open Mind” tracks from the Double-Booked album
• The Terence Blanchard Group, tracks “Journey” and “When Will You Call” from Choices album
• Marvwon, track “Need To Know” from Way Of The Won

2010

• Erica Badu , track "Jump In The Air & Stay There" from the album New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)
• Little Brother and Darien Brockington, track "Second Chances" from The Leftback
• Reflection Eternal, track "End" from the album Revolutions per Minute
• Nottz, “Right Here” track from You Need This Music album
• Diddy - Dirty Money , track “Shades” (with the participation of Lil Wayne , Justin Timberlake , James Fountleroi ) from the album Last Train to Paris

2011

• Daedelus, track "Overwhelmed" from Bespoke album
• Kindred the Family Soul , “Take a Look Around” track from Love Has No Recession album
• Stimulus & Chris 'Daddy' Dave , track “Full Grown” from the 3rd 1st Impression album
• Georgia Ann Muldrow, track "More & More" from the album Owed to Mama Rickie
• The Roots , track "The OtherSide" from Undun album

2012

• Robert Glasper, Always Shine (featuring Lupe Fiasco ) and Letter to Hermione from Black Radio
• Lupe Fiasco , track “How Dare You” from Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. one
• Chrisett Michelle , “Can the Cool Be Loved?” Track from Better Album

2014

• Kimbra , track “Everlovin 'Ya” from The Golden Echo album

2015

• Kendrick Lamar , Institutionalized and These Walls from To Pimp A Butterfly

2016

• Kendrick Lamar , track "untitled 01 | 08/19/2014. ” From the untitled unmastered album .
• J Dilla, track "The Ex" from The Diary
• Mac Miller , track "Congratulations" from The Divine Feminine

2017

• The Roots, “It Ain't Fair” track from the Detroit movie soundtrack

• Bilal Online (unavailable link from 09/06/2013 [2165 days] - history , copy ) Official site
• Obnoxious Listener's Review of Bilal
• Bilal on the Allmusic website
• Myspace Official Bilal Page