Bilal

hip hop

Bilal, born Bilal Sayeed Oliver on August 23, 1979, is an American singer and songwriter from the Germantown section of Philadelphia, known for a wide vocal range and for work spanning soul, jazz and hip hop. He studied at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts and then at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York, and emerged in 2000 with the single Soul Sista. His debut album, 1st Born Second, followed on Interscope in 2001. Its intended successor, Love for Sale, was shelved by the label but leaked online in 2006 and circulated widely, becoming an underground reference point rather than a release. He returned with Airtight's Revenge on Plug Research in 2010, A Love Surreal on eOne Music in 2013, and In Another Life in 2015. Bilal was part of the Soulquarians, the loose collective built around Q-Tip, D'Angelo, J Dilla and the Roots, and has recorded with Kendrick Lamar, Common, Erykah Badu, Robert Glasper, Jay-Z and Beyonce. He won a Grammy in 2016 for Best Rap/Sung Performance as a featured artist on Lamar's These Walls. In 2024 he released two projects: Bilal: Live at Glasshaus, a mid-career retrospective set featuring Questlove, Common and Robert Glasper, and Adjust Brightness, his first studio album in eight years. Self-released and running to eleven tracks, Adjust Brightness pushes his soul, funk and jazz foundation toward electronic and experimental textures, with Aphex Twin and Stereolab cited among its reference points. He tours behind it in club-scale rooms, including a Denver date at Cervantes' Other Side with Yaya Bey.

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