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Bilal

Presented by World Cafe Live at World Cafe Live - Philadelphia

September 15, 2011

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A turbulent solo deal with Interscope resulted in Bilal's debut album, 1st Born Second, which was issued in July 2001 and reached the Top Ten of Billboard's R&B albums chart. At that point, the closest points of comparison were D'Angelo and Maxwell, yet Bilal was more dynamic than the former and less mannered than the latter. Bilal recorded a second album, Love for Sale, and handled much of the songwriting and production duties, while Jay Dee, Dr. Dre, and Nottz assisted in limited capacities. The album leaked online, prompting Bilal's label to put it on ice. Bilal had been a featured artist on songs by Beyoncé, Musiq, Clipse, Sa-Ra, Jay-Z, and several others, including many of his fellow Soulquarians, but it wasn't until 2010 that he released his second proper album. Airtight's Revenge was released and saw Bilal working extensively with Steve McKie, along with Sa-Ra's Shafiq Husayn, Nottz, Conley "Tone" Whitfield, 88-Keys, and several studio musicians who gave the set a loose, band-like feel. The new music promises to be progressive while still having its roots placed firmly in the jazz traditions that originally inspired Bilal’s music. Bilal describes the new material as “genre-bending music.