Napa: Bilal

Born in Philadelphia Bilal Oliver is a schooled musician and dynamic live performer whose artistry draws from jazz, soul, and hip-hop. With fans that includes Eryka Badu, Janelle Monae, Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammed and featured spots with, among others, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Diddy and Common, Bilal made his major label debut with 2001’s First Born Second. The cd sold over 300, 000 copies and announced that Bilal was an artist to watch. Bilal’s sophomore recording Love For Sale leaked to the internet before its official release and would enjoy over half a million downloads. 2010 saw Air Tight’s Revenge, which yielded the Grammy nominated “Little Ones”.

Ask Bilal how he sees A Love Surreal and he replies without hesitation. “I’ve always had a lot of information about what it is that I wanted to do but sometimes it would come off as obscure. This time I think I’ve set out what I meant to do.” Simple enough, right?