recording artist
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A
strange thing has been happening at singer Bilal’s concerts in
recent years; audience members usually sing along to songs from his
sophomore album, Love for Sale. The problem? The album was never
released.
Fans of the singer have been able to memorize the lyrics to songs such
as “All 4 Love” and “White Turns to Gray”
because the album was leaked before his former label, Interscope, could
even release it.
The
Philadelphia native is cognizant of this fact, though he admits he has
mixed feelings about it. “It’s like a catch-22. It was a
bad thing because I didn’t make any money off that album —
and a good thing because when I did that album, my label said that the
music sucked,” he revealed recently during VH1 Soul’s
“Black Girls Rock” event. “But judging by what the
people say, it’s a good album [and] I’m happy about
that.”
“The way everything went down on that record, the label
wasn’t really working with me for it to come out. I guess it just
was supposed to come out anyway. Labels really don’t know what
they want,” he says.
Formally free of the bindings of his Interscope contract, Bilal says
his days as a major label artist are over. “I don’t think
I’m going to go to another label.
I think we’re in a good place right now in the world and with the
Internet, that you can really just come out on the Internet,” he
says. “That way, I don’t have to worry about somebody
telling me about guidelines and boundaries because I’m
boundary-less.” –ivory m. jones
