Bilal: “Airtight” Holds Water

Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, Bilal (full name Bilal Sayeed Oliver) grew up singing in the church. “I come from a really big family,” he tells me, “pretty much the whole church was all my family.”

The world was first introduced to his quirky demeanor and distinctive raspy tone back in 2001 with his well-received debut album 1st Born Second (Interscope) which heralded the popular singles “Fast Lane”, and “Soul Sista”, and went on to sell more than 320,000 copies.

The media placed this sound (along with the likes of Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, et al) into the tiny ill-fitting box of the “neo-soul” genre, a description way too narrow for it’s expansiveness. “I really consider myself a blues singer, anyway” Bilal declares.

So after the success of 1st Born Second, in 2006 Bilal carefully crafted his sophomore album Love For Sale, a pleasant departure from his debut effort. Bilal produced and wrote most of the tracks himself, weaving together what seemed to be a more authentic and unbridled reflection of who he was as an artist at that point in time. His label, Interscope Records, however, was less than enthusiastic at this more avant-garde approach.

The album mysteriously leaked well before its release date, and was thus deemed unmarketable, never to see a proper commercial release. In poetic irony, “Love for Sale” was given out for free.

So here we are, nine years after his first ‘official’ album, anxiously awaiting Airtight’s Revenge to be released via Bilal’s new label, the L.A based Plug Research Music. Luckily, in the interim, Bilal’s faithful fans have been satiated with numerous successful collaborations including Erykah Badu, Scarface, Jill Scott, The Roots, and Jay-Z among others.

The new album’s topics run the gamut of the human experience ( love, politics, socio-economic disparities, relationships) as expressed through just as many genres. Airtight is a dizzying mix of experimental, jazz, Hip Hop, soul, and blues tracks. While in previous interviews Bilal has claimed the inspiration for the title Airtight’s Revenge is credited to it’s alter-ego, retro, 70s flick type of feel…one can’t help but wonder if the title has anything to do with just how pissed off his former record label will be when this masterful album hits stores come September 14th.

Aliya: Surely you don’t remember this…but we’ve actually met before.

Bilal: Have we?

Aliya: Yea, It was years ago, backstage at a Beat Society event in NYC…and I remember seeing a lot of people, even industry guys, just kind of staring at you because of your eccentricity (laughs)…I personally love that about you…I love the fact that you’re off center and quirky because when you perform on stage that energy is channeled into something really raw and free. Have you always been so comfortable in your own skin?

Bilal: Ummm….I’ve always been in my own skin, you know? I think more so, the older I get, or more mature or whatever. I come from a big family and I’ve always been kind of an oddball. When you come from a big family, you learn really early on to develop your own personality.

Aliya: Is there anything that will make you nervous on stage?

Bilal: I don’t really get nervous anymore. I’ve been singing since I was about three years old so….I get excited or giddy, like, “Come on, let’s go!”…but I don’t really ever feel like “Oohhh, no, I can’t go out there!” I don’t think I’ve ever felt like that. I like to perform.

Aliya: I’m not going to ask you what it felt like to have “Love for Sale” shelved, obviously no one asks for years worth of work to never be officially released…..but, I will ask…what have you learned from that experience?

Bilal: Well, I’ve learned to just understand that things happen and that there’s a silver lining in everything. That’s what I’ve learned. I’ve also learned to do music from the heart, because even if these cats that are trying to just make money off of your shit don’t like it, or don’t get it…the people do.

Aliya: I’ve heard two different stories about why the album was shelved…There’s one rumor that it was because the album leaked …and there’s another rumor that the album was simply too experimental for them and they used the whole leak thing as a scapegoat , or perhaps, in more nefarious rumors, they leaked it themselves purposefully for that reason. Which story would you say is closest to the truth?

Bilal: I think that’s all the truth to a certain extent. I can sit around and blame people all day but I’m just letting the music go….it really happened for a reason, you know? At the time I was dealing with [Interscope Records], I was really fighting for [Love for Sale] because of the fact that it was left center and experimental. So when it was bootlegged, it kinda jacked me up like “Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!” you know?

But it created this underground type of thing where I had people coming up to me saying that it was some of the dopest shit they’ve ever heard. So I’m just gonna keep on doing the music and let everything else fall into place. I just have to stay true.

Aliya: The new album will be released on one of my favorite labels, Plug Research, which is known for the vast amounts of creative freedom their artists are “allowed”. How has that shift been for you coming from the restrictive, and even oppressive, energy of a major record label?

Bilal: Its cool. Its really cool to be in that type of a space. I’m not sitting around arguing with people about my art. That’s always good {laughs}

Aliya: Much of the world was first introduced to you when you sang the hook on Common’s “The 6th Sense”, one of the big Rap classics from the last decade. From your perspective, what does that record and its lyrics mean to you?

Bilal: Well, all of Common’s records are retrospective and make you think deeper about things on another level. Common makes you dig deeper. I can’t recall the specific lyrics off hand but I love common as a rapper and an artist…he’s dope.

Aliya: I think one of the better videos of this year is Shafiq Husayn’s [from Sa-Ra Creative Partners] “Cheeba.”

With it’s beautiful, slightly dark cinematography… Can you speak about your experience on set ?

Bilal: Oh, man it was fun doing that video. A lot of it was done just very free-flowing, so it was fun seeing the end result of it.

Aliya: Shafiq also produced my hands-down favorite track on your new album, “Levels”. I loved the live version, but when I heard the album version it blew me away. Can you talk a little bit about the inspiration for that song?

Bilal: Again , the inspiration was free-flowing for that too. It was just a cool type of thing that I had written the chord changes to awhile back. I had played around with those chord changes for along time. I always have a lot of songs in my head, then at the right moment it just blends perfectly somehow. Shafiq was playing a rhythm on the drums…and it just made a lot of sense to what I was doing. The lyrics are really just about being stuck in a place and really wanting to grow…wanting to build to another level, you know? So when we blended what I was doing with Shafiq…we started to realize the track started to sound like it was flying. So that was the deal…

Aliya: On this album you also worked with Nottz and 88-Keys. Both are esteemed rap producers, but what was it that let you recognize their creative talents for Soul?

Bilal: Well I’m good friends with 8 and Nottz…I like their drum sounds and I really like the way they create. Their both creative cats, you know? Being in the lab with them it just….it works (laughs)

Aliya: “Little One” was written written for your sons [ Editor’s note: Bilal’s youngest son has sickle cell anemia and his oldest son has autism.]. A lot of times, especially situations involving a child with an illness or special need, it’s only the mother that’s questioned about juggling parental responsibility with work….so as a father, how has caring for your sons affected your career?

Bilal: Well, I tend to take a lot of things and just make it work. I see myself as a blues singer so I see that life is everything, you know? I don’t let anything hold me back, I just learn to live and use it, because that’s what each situation was meant for.

Aliya: Would you discourage them from entering the music business if they wanted to?

Bilal: I think even if I did they wouldn’t let me. The same thing that’s in me is in them. They have that same type of a drive. My three year old, he jumps up on the stage when I’m performing and tries to get the mic! (laughs) So….I don’t want to discourage my kids from doing anything they want to do that’s not hurting them. If it’s something they can do and learn from then I wouldn’t discourage them from that. I would just tell them the things that allow them to understand all of the aspects of it, you know? That’s what I’m really here for as a father…I’m not here to steer any boats. I’m not here to create my child as a vehicle for myself. I’m just here to help them along their journey.

Aliya: I read that after watching the 2007 documentary, “Zeitgeist: The Movie,” you penned the new track “Who Are You.” complete with lyrics like “Ever told you ‘bout the girl/ who thought she was a Christian?/ So she walked around tryin’ to save everyone/ just like the Christ had done/ until she heard from the Sun/ that she was really an Egyptian/ and The Pope just stole those concepts/ straight from the pyramid walls”.

I’ve seen that documentary, and it was FILLED with information —the historically factual and also some radical ideas. Which specific parts of that movie resonated the most with you?

Bilal: Definitely the religious parts…tying in the religions and showing how they all stemmed from the same story of Horus, and how these same stories and concepts have come into play in basically every religion. I’ve personally dealt with that idea growing up too –my pops is a Muslim, my mom is Christian. So these types of debates I’ve heard all the time. So I really tuned in to that part of the movie…

Aliya: Do you consider yourself to be religious?

Bilal: I’m a spiritual person. I wouldn’t say that I gravitate to one understanding. I’m a spiritual being –we all are. I respect everybody.

Aliya: There was something else I noticed…last year you did the Robert Glasper collabo, the Grammy nominated jazz version of “All Matter” In that version, the word “matter” is spelled with two t’s. yet, on your more soulful album version the title is spelled with one “t”. Did you deliberately spell the latin word “Mater” meaning mother, as a nod to ancient goddess culture—the idea that we are “ all (of) Mother”? ”[long pause]…or am I totally reading way too much into this? (Laughs)

Bilal: Oh shit!!!!!!!!!!!! (laughs) Yea [you are]! (Laughs) But that’s dope! Wow! That shit’s awesome…wow….that’s a whole ‘lotta thinking happening about a misspell, but that’s dope! (laughs)

Aliya: (laughs) It works though, right?!

Bilal: (Laughs) That was dope!

Aliya: You should go ahead and tell people that from here on out now!

Bilal: Yea, you’re right, I should! wow…laughs)

Aliya: Finally, on this same track, you describe love as being “cool on the outside and hot in the middle” which I think is a brilliantly simplistic description of what we often think of as a complex emotion. So before we get out of here, can you recall a time when Love brought out the “coolest” and “hottest” aspects of you?

Bilal: Being a father [brought out the coolest side]….you know, being a brother too. The older side of me has understood that cooler side. I now deal with things with a cooler head. That passion , when you’re younger, is harder to tame…but the older you get, you learn how to go deep inwardly and not let things resonate outwardly. That’s basically, Damu [Summerian god of re-birth], Kung-Fu, Qigong [Chinese system of physical and mental training for health]…the hottest aspects are the intimate parts….the unsaid things.

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