Bilal on Sound Session
Posted in Artists, Interviews, Sound Session on August 9th, 2009 by HyphenA few months ago, J. Moore and I held a quick informal poll on Sound Session with our listeners – Of the most well respected ‘big 3’ R&B singers of the last 15 years, who is your favorite – Maxwell, D’Angelo, or Bilal? Despite only releasing one official album, Bilal battled it out with D’Angelo for the top spot and they ended up tying the vote.
Personally, after hearing 1st Born Second in 2001, my entire vision of R&B was shaken to the core. On that one record, Bilal displayed a soulfulness in his music, songwriting, and most noticeably, his voice that hasn’t been topped since. Simply put, it’s a flawless album and marks one of the crowning achievements of the Soulquarian collective.
When Bilal came through the SNSS studio, we jumped at the chance to ask him all about that album, his Love For Sale follow up that was unfortunately shelved by Interscope (Industry Rule #4,080), and his upcoming project, Air Tight’s Revenge. We also discussed his upbringing, his first big break as D’Angelo’s back up singer (and his prompt firing), behind the scenes stories from the Soulquarian days, his favorite J Dilla memory, and much more. Check out the full interview below to catch up with the legendary Bilal Oliver.
Bilal on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?limxqmnyonz
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/6388930225a66890/ )
If you’re a music lover and don’t own 1st Born Second, cop it immediately…