"Every Night Is a Musical Conversation" Says Neo-Soul Legend Bilal

He's collaborated with some of the biggest names in hip-hop and R&B, such as Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, Common, and Erykah Badu. But Bilal is no also-ran musician, having gained legions of fans with a soul-stirring croon and slew of critically acclaimed solo LPs.

In conversation, the neo-soul singer sounds as beautiful as he does on wax, with a laugh that’s as sharp as the high notes he belts out onstage. The chuckles flow during our candid, thoughtful but lighthearted interview ahead of his Sep 8 and 9 shows at Blue Note Beijing.  

While the singer and songwriter's good-natured humor and mellow demeanor may seem easy and natural, they’re very much hard won. The Philadelphia born artist has faced numerous trials, chief among them: protecting and nurturing two sons with special needs. Bilal’s song “Little One” from his lauded 2010 album Airtight's Revenge, was written shortly after one of his sons was diagnosed with autism, and the song's soaring melodies and melancholy vocals convey that determination and resignation. Unbowed, Bilal qlso partnered with a number of autism goodwill organizations on the subsequent tour, visiting special needs classes in each city to perform for children with autism, and meeting their parents and teachers. 

Those efforts were certainly rewarding for the singer, who says: “You get new inspiration when you meet new people who deal with this, who’ve been blessed with the same path.” When asked about how such seemingly arduous circumstances could possibly have an upside, Bilal is quick to explain: “It teaches you to look at life differently, to not look at the things that come your way as simply bad or good. It’s just the dynamics of things, everyone has their own thing to deal with. It’s the colors and shading of the beauty that we live in.”

And while he admits to the challenges of balancing a show business career with parenting children with special needs, Bilal remains steadfastly positive, describing, with another high-pitched giggle, how “my boys are my biggest fans. They encourage me. They critique me. And they say eventually they want to produce me!”

His sons’ production ambitions are not only inspired by Bilal’s music, but also by the studio legends he has worked with. Arguably the most famous is the late J Dilla, often ranked among rap’s chief sonic architects. Bilal can recall working with the producer and Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson of The Roots and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon fame, with whom he worked on “Soul Sista” on his debut album 1st Born Second in 2001. Bilal says, “Dilla made it all look so easy, but it wasn’t until after he died that Ahmir told me how he’d wake up every day before the sun, at 5 o’clock, and that’s when he’d start with music.” Such early rising is especially impressive in the late-night hip-hop scene, according to Bilal, and he says such discipline demonstrated how J Dilla “approached it like a real craft, like it was a job. So that by the time we linked up at the studio, he already had a bunch of beats done, and they were the cream of the crop. But that was because he’d already been up since dawn!” he adds with yet another endearingly squeaky, brassy laugh.

READ: Grammy Winner Robert Glasper Talks Giving Jazz a “Big Ass Slap!”

Aside from counting J Dilla among his mentors, Bilal says he’s been blessed to work with other towering figures of the early 2000’s alt-rap and R&B Soulquarian scene. Chief among them: ?uestlove (who also hails from Philadelphia, and was already such a popular enough musician in high school, that Bilal and his pals would follow him about town and dream of one day joining him onstage); Grammy-nominated MC Common (who Bilal credits with kickstarting his career after taking a chance on him before he’d even been signed, inviting him to sing the hook on his hit “The 6th Sense”); and neo-soul queen Erykah Badu.

“That’s my sister there man, she's my ace,” Bilal says Badu, a fellow parent juggling a music career with significant familial demands. Bilal credits Badu with “giving me so much advice and just being there for me as a friend over the years. She’s an all-around good soul to know.” Fans, however, like to fixate on their professional ties, especially on one of Badu’s biggest singles, 2010’s “Jump Up In The Air And Stay There”, which featured the hottest MC of the moment: Lil Wayne.

Hopping on a track with such outsized personalities may seem intimidating, to say the least. And yet Bilal holds his own against those frequently scene-stealing acts. On the track Bilal waits patiently for Weezy to finish spitting his zany triple entendres, and for Badu to sing her space-agey barbs, before belting out his own strategic high note on the chorus, securing his spot in the limelight when nearly any other artist would’ve been blown off the proverbial stage. Looking back on that track, however, Bilal can only laugh, give kudos to Badu and declare Wayne to be “funkier than a motherf**ker.”

A few years later Bilal was fortunate enough to once again work with the hottest rapper of the day, Kendrick Lamar, on tracks like the funky, breezy, and smoothly sensual, “These Walls”, form the MC’s 2015 LP To Pimp a Butterfly. Bilal enjoyed seeing the heralded wordsmith work up close, but above all gained insight into his process and disposition. “I remember when I was working with him on the album and asked about the concept because based off his prior albums I knew he’d be coming with something wicked,” Bilal recalls, adding the Californian MC had a refreshing approach in a genre notorious for braggadocio. Bilal explains: “I’d ask about the concept and themes, and Kendrick would just smile and say ‘Yeah man, I’m putting it together, in my head.’ And that was all he would say! It takes a lot of maturity to be able to hold things to your chest and come up with your own clarity in what you’re doing. The brother is extremely talented and gifted.”

Bilal adds of working with Lamar: “I’m not sure what I did for him in terms of pushing the album forward, but I know we had fun. I enjoyed working with the brother. He’s dynamically talented.”

Maintaining that sense of fun and enthusiasm comes from working with some of the biggest names in the business, but also, performing and writing in a jazz structure. Bilal says this also helps keep him fresh and invigorated because it leaves so much room for improvisation when he’s on the road, such as with the band he is bringing over to Beijing with him: "It’s just going to be a trio, which means there’ll be a lot of space for new things to happen. But regardless, we never play the same show twice. Every night is a musical conversation.”

READ: Playlist: Yiling Lin, Gig Coordinator at Blue Note Beijing

For a man who has been in the music biz since 1999, enough time to leave many of his peers cynical, Bilal is brimming with enthusiasm and optimism. While others may have been worn down by the pressure of balancing a music career and two sons with special needs, he doesn't see it that way. “I love what I do, I’ve been doing this since I was a little kid – making up songs and singing in front of people with a microphone at church, and then in music classes once my mom realized I had a gift. I’ve been singing in front of people with a microphone since I was four years old. It’s the only thing I know."

Bilal will perform at Blue Note on Sep 8 and 9. Tickets start at RMB 200. For more information, click here.

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Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
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