Bilal has touched tracks for everyone from Ghostface Killah to Erykah Badu over his 13-year career. His work with Common on songs like "The 6th Sense" and "It's Your World" established him as a key complement to many of rap's elite, and he'd go on to providing vocals for Jay-Z, Clipse, and others.
The singer-songwriter has also released a heap of noteworthy solo material. First came his debut, 1st Born Second, in 2001. He followed up with 2006's Love for Sale and 2010's Airtight's Revenge. Today, the 33-year old drops his latest project, A Love Surreal, featuring the single "Back to Love." It's a jazzy, up-beat throwback to a snappier age of vocals and instrumentation.
It's no wonder, then, that many of Bilal's most cherished albums are decades old and from a wide array genres. Bilal spoke to Complex about his all time favorites—with influences from the range of Miles Davis to the storytelling of Steely Dan. These are Bilal's 25 Favorite Albums.
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Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (1959)
"I've got to put Miles Davis' Kind of Blue in there because that's just another phase of Miles that I love. He kind of changed the sound of jazz music on that album. It's an important record for me."
The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
"They were Andy Warhol's group. It was just a dope album. It's got a banana on the front of it. I like that record."
Sun Ra, Comsic Tones for Mental Therapy (1967)
Chick Corea, Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (1968)
"I think that's just one of the best jazz trio albums ever. Mostly every jazz musician I talk to love that album. It's just a classic."
Howlin' Wolf, The Howlin' Wolf Album (1969)
Miles Davis, Bitches Brew (1970)
"I like Miles Davis. I like all the periods that he played in. I've actually got a lot of albums from Miles that I like, but Bitches Brew, I like the change on that record, because it was just a complete change in sound and style, the way he was playing from his last album. He reinvented himself on that record."
Funkadelic, Maggot Brain (1971)
"I love the way they put their albums together. It's very loose. "Maggot Brain" is like a 12 minute song with a freakin' speech on it [Laughs.]—a guitar solo and a speech. I just like their loose approach to creativity, it's something I aspire to."
Sly and the Family Stone, There's a Riot Goin' On (1971)
"I just love that album. It sounds like Sly just locked himself in the studio from the drum sounds that he was using. It sounds like he was using this old organ where they have the preset drum sounds. I just love his style and where he was in his musical journey when he made that album. It was dope."
Roling Stones, Exile on Main St. (1972)
"I like the way that album was recorded. It sounded very loose and open the way they did the songs and how everything was created. I just like the vibe. It's a good listen all the way through."
Curtis Mayfield, Superfly (1972)
"I just think that's one of the best movie soundtrack albums ever. Just the way he described the whole movie, you don't even really have to see the movie, just listen to the soundtrack and you already know the whole movie. It's just killer the way he did that."
Steely Dan, The Royal Scam (1976)
"I just like the stories that they told on the album. It was very vivid story telling. I just like it."
Bob Marley, Rastaman Vibration (1976)
"I actually love all the records he did with Island, but I like Rastaman Vibrations. I just love the way that whoever produced that record, after they laid everything down, the different rock guitar lines and organ lines that are added in there is just dope to me."
Betty Carter, The Betty Carter Album (1976)
"That's one of the first jazz albums I ever bought. I just love the way Betty Carter sings. She's a genius."
Weather Report, Heavy Weather (1977)
"Jaco and Joe Zawinul, the way they played with each other on the album is awesome."
Steely Dan, Aja (1977)
"It's a great body of work. It seems very thought out from beginning to end, every song just had a certain vibe. The songwriting to the sound and the look of the album, the whole package was just very well thought out."
The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta (1980)
"That's one of my favorite records, an old school record that I listen to at home. I just like their approach to rock and dub, reggae; it's just awesome. I loved the way they blended that and you could really hear it in that album."
The Clark Sisters, Is My Living in Vain (1985)
Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
"I think that was just their best album. It was their first album. I love the way they put the album together and everybody's energy on that record, it's timeless."
A Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders (1993)
"It's just a special album to me. I like where they were as far as beat making. I think it changed a lot in hip-hop on that record."
Radiohead, Amnesiac (2001)
"I just remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard that album. I was in L.A. working on my second album and I just remember hearing one of the tracks from the album and I immediately went straight to the record store. It's just a favorite album of mine."
Bad Brains, Banned in D.C.: Bad Brains Greatest Riffs (2003)
"I just like the breakneck tempos and their I-don't-give-a-fuck attitude. It's just awesome."
Madvillain, Madvillainy (2004)
"I like this collaboration album that Madlib did with MF DOOM. I thought that was just a great album."
J Dilla, Donuts (2006)
"I love the way he chopped on that album and the beats were so strong he didn't really need anyone rhyming on anything. It was just great music."
The Roots, Game Theory (2006)
"I liked the way that album flowed. It just has a real nice flow. That whole album just sounds very thought out and put together. I think Game Theory was kind of a game changer. It just seemed like everything was fluid. I could listen to that album frontwards and it sounds great or I can listen to it backwards—not listening to it backwards, but reverse order—and it sounds great either way. It's just very thought out."
Bilal, Airtight's Revenge (2010)
"Aw, shucks. Let me put my own album in there [Laughs.] Airtight's Revenge, I love that album. I had a lot of fun doing it and it's just a great album. I know no one's probably ever done that before. I'm not a cocky son of a bitch. [Laughs.]"