- Mohammed Bilal
Mohammed Bilal (March 28 ,1970 inSan Francisco, California ) is anAfrican-American musician known as a castmate on "", the third season ofMTV 's long-runningreality television show."The Real World"
Of the eight castmates who lived in the
Russian Hill house in total, Bilal was the onlySan Francisco native. He was immediately accepting of castmatePedro Zamora 's homosexuality, because, according to him, this is necessary in San Francisco. Although he did not participate in much of the conflict between housemateDavid "Puck" Rainey and the other castmates, he got into an argument with him in one episode when Rainey criticizedgangster rap musicians. Bilal, arap music ian himself, perceived Puck’s comments as being directed toward the entire genre, but Puck later attended a performance by Bilal, and complimented him on his performance, stating that his brand of rap was more positive than those he had referenced earlier.Bilal is a practicing
Muslim , ["The Real World Diaries"; Pocket Books; 1996; Page 133.] and "cleansed" the house of negative energy by lightingincense when Puck was evicted from the house.After "The Real World"
Bilal and Puck later experienced a tense moment during the reunion show they participated in a year later, when Bilal assertively told the narcissistic Puck that the persona he adopted was a fictional character, calling him “
schizophrenic ”, and that being a 27-year-old bike messenger, contrary to Puck’s assertions while living in the house, was “not cool”. Puck responded that he was retired from that occupation, addressing Bilal as “bitch”. This caused a reaction in Bilal, who flipped the baseball cap Puck was wearing in the studio where the reunion was being taped, causing Puck to move to the other side of the stage.References
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