The debut CD 1st Born Second, which appeared last year from 23-year old Philadelphian Bilal Sayeed Oliver, was impressive. The soulsinger-songwriter offered fine, distinguished, sultry music which is firmly rooted in the past, but at the same time is linked to contemporary r&b, hip hop and soul, nowadays called Nu-Soul. Of al the artist from the Nu Soul generation, a.o. Angie Stone, Erykah Badu and D'Angelo, the music of Bilal is the most experimental. As a songwriter he contributed to Erykah Badu's CD Mama's Gun and he performed as a background singer with D'Angelo. He also contributed to Commons' Like Water For Chocolate and Guru's Jazzmatazz Street Soul albums. Initially the singer, a big jazz fanatic, had very other things planned than a career in pop music. A conservatory jazz and big band student he perceived himself more as an arranger than a jazz singer. Bilal is part of the Soul Aquarians collective together with D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Roots-drummer Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson and Q-Tip.
