Ryan Leslie, c/d, s/d

i dunno, never heard anything proving he didn't, link?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoHr2QmB2Mo

the point isn't whether r-les was guilty of juking the stats (oh noes) or not but that that minor fiasco was another unsurprising daily event in his implacable diddy-without-the-heart endless vlogger multimedia cross-promotion start-up company hype campaign which had been rolling on since like 2005. none of which would make him an asshole as such (he isn't really), but then when he finally follows through with that self-satisfied pharrellian chocolate-box banality of an album earlier this year i was more than a little fucked off with dude, yeah - after all the stringing-along it felt like he was quite happy just to blithely drop off his business card for the (to quote brainwasher way upthread) "...but I can't wait to hear what he comes with next!" happy helmet set, scented with just enough weak lavendery perfume to mask the main "It sucks that a lot of these songs have been around forever so the album doesn't feel particularly fresh..." bit.

funny thing is i really really like this new one though; way stronger balance between the light playfulness of what's always going to be something of a vanity side-project - he seems to be knowingly aware of his capriciousness now in a way others (like say terius) aren't (not a de facto good or bad thing-in itself before you jump on me) and not taking the piss and seeming fundamentally insincere, with better songwriting and mildly compelling better attention to detail this time round. i don't believe he should suffer critically for that lightness when dudes like dam-funk or wonky dubsteppers jacking boogie moves on hyperdub are on the exact same yuppie shit he is but gameface it out with quintuple gatefold lp sets and sophisticatedly finessed pr prescences (respectively).

another thing is that as time's gone by (since the earlier album i guess) it's felt like there's been an appreciably solidified difference between his solo stuff and his outside production, which are often more sculpted and have the darker bassier contemplative gloomy atmospherics that k3v talks about but i have trouble quite locating on this album.

the back half of his s/t kind of hints at that feel, but the new one really fleshes it out and explores it more fully. it's a winter album for that reason, like i said

i do still think i prefer the first to this though, as much as i like it. the highs are probably more pronounced and the production is probably fundamentally more impressive to me, though Transition is (to beat a dead horse here) more of a mood piece that begs to be explored - kind of the definition of a grower

er, i just kind of realized i'm disagreeing with you w/ that first post? i dunno, right out the gate you can tell there's a different look he's going for - compare "never gonna break up" & "something that i like" w/ "diamond girl" & "addiction"

but 'addiction' is the darkest out of that lot, surely? i agree that transition is more of a grower but that's by virtue of its level consistency rather than by any definable shift in mood or scope. i need to listen to the first again before i say any more tbh; like i say the context will have changed entirely though.

suppose it might matter that i refuse to acknowledge the version of 'addiction' with fabolous on it - the presence of a third party totally spoiled that shit.

but yeah no fine, 'addiction' is just the one track like that anyway; i see what you're generally saying but - slighty more demure production aside - he is still exactly the same guy on transition as he is the s/t. the trick of this album is in not making that guy look so glibly irritating now so you can have a wry smile and a pinch of salt to go with his continuing r-les-ness.

"Addiction" definitely felt more like itself in its original incarnation, but that's one of my favorite recentish Fab verses and I always think of it when I think of the song (whereas I never thought his encroachment on "Shawty Is A Ten" was an improvement in any way and kind of ruined the intro)

i dont get the comparison to dam funk / wonky dubstep at all (& i only feel defensive about the former, usually totally into h8ing on dubstep but whats the comparison exactly??)

i <3 his rapping fwiw

like, i would take this more seriously if he released it on quadruple gatefold? i doubt it

deej I don't think you're the kinda strawman r|t|c's referring to.

no leave it, he likes puzzling me out. http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif

i didnt mean that tho, i just mean this 'lightness' 'yuppy' thing ... i dont get the concept behind it -- that these guys are all indulgent? that there's not ... what ... meat to it? what does that mean? it feels like a vague concept imo

oh no doubt it's a vague concept. i mean, i like dam-funk okay i guess but i just feel i'm unlikely to ever see anyone finding him a problematic artist the same way they might leslie, and the only real reason i can see for that - besides the fact that leslie sings songs and dam-funk doesn't, which is a superficial distinction imo - is that dam-funk has all the apparently legitimizing trimmings of a serious musical dude of gravitas. and what they share is not a sense of indulgence as such but i dunno, a dorky retro boogie keyb capriciousness, a cute 80s flavoured peculiarity. (maybe leslie is more of modern times for some people but that's how i hear him anyway to a certain extent.)

the yuppie thing is partly a straight descriptive of that (particularly in leslie's case) but also - besides being my handy way of stating where i stand on wonky artists and kode9's pert claims on a lineage from pirate radio/nuum/etc, heh heh - kinda nicely sums up the ~vybe i get from these three put together, what's at play in the sphere of fandom (that i find myself in too, to an extent, tbf) for this sort of stuff: i dunno, it's all a bit, um...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGsht0Lto9o

~ internet connection, babyyy - serious~

... yknow?

anyways, carry on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXWJB-XZFUY

i posted this upthread, but this is probably my favorite r leslie thing from this year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63sl_txFw5A

listening to transitions and enjoying the hell out of the sound, the 80s yuppie twinkly keyboards and bass and stuff, he's such a great and distinct producer. unfortunately still a total nonentity as a frontman. i don't get how anyone could think he's an asshole: he'd have to impinge on you at all to get to that stage.

i mean come on, he's inarguably an asshole! it's whether or not it affects your reaction to the music that's the question

how long have we been arguing the point for you to suddenly throw out "inarguably"?

i agree with lex tho, he's largely a non-entity as a frontman - it would be like calling your comforter an asshole or something. it's just kinda there. idk.

asshole is maybe too strong a way of putting it but i still think what we all discussed on a rolling r&b of the past about leslie being cut from kanye cloth applies; certainly back in the day he used to run his mouth a lot more (dimly recall one particular whinge about not getting his dues where he took a pop at ne-yo!) but i guess that all impinges more on a rss reader than it does one's ears. not that that doesn't still count of course.

essentially with him in particular people are always gonna have very differing reactions to his persona, depending on a variety of factors - i doubt he'll ever be one for the outright definitives so the scope for interpretation is greater than your average.

i couldnt really ever say he's a non-entity as a frontman though - slight and amateurish sure, but there's as much to chew on with him as with anyone else.

I think he wants to come off like an asshole more than he actually is one. Arrogance is a common trait of the kind of stardom he aspires to! After all, what else is "I'm a lead man, you could be my co-star" but wishful thinking? And possibly his pickup line to Cassie all those years ago?

i mightve misremembered that ne-yo hypebeef or else they made up, why because ooh this look intersting

http://www.sohh.com/2009/09/fabolous_ryan_leslie_ne-y.html

OMFG wait how could i forget about that ultra-bateman interview with him a few years ago, hold up while i find it!

In the time I’ve spent with Leslie, he has revealed only two interests beyond his life as a musician and an entrepreneur. The first is buying custom-made clothes. The second is watching DVD biographies of industrial-era titans like John D. Rockefeller. Ask him to speak contemplatively, and he’ll quickly hide behind platitudes or shift the discussion to talk about the next goals in his sights. At these times, he pitches his tone less to the person sitting across from him and more to some sort of vast audience in his head. As though he were speaking into Daytona’s camera and dispensing advice to fans, like in his video-diary entry titled “A Word About Good Representation.” (This tone can sometimes contrast sharply with his surroundings: He once gave a lofty speech to me over a meal at Jimbo’s Hamburger Palace—the cash-only greasy spoon on Lenox Avenue where Leslie eats almost all his meals.)

http://nymag.com/news/features/24094/ , of 2006 vintage!

i never really got why terius was supposed to be an asshole either, as al says a certain degree of arrogance or sleaziness hardly merits a mention.

i'd wait for leslie's slight presence to grow on me but it never happened with the first album so...shrug.

At these times, he pitches his tone less to the person sitting across from him and more to some sort of vast audience in his head.

heh this reminds me of the incorrigibly sweet ciara

“This song is called ‘Open Toes,’ ” shouts Ferrera over the deafening beat. “It’s about hot shoes with open toes,” he yells.

lol still cracks me up

even though it was as usual only for the benefit of the delighted flute-clinking dinner party audience in soto's head this still kinda makes me laugh

― r|t|c, Tuesday, September 8, 2009 5:43 PM Bookmark

yeah j4gger sent that zing to me in an im, nice work

ok this one song where he says things like "did you come here to take my lonely?" and "this is real, baby, givin' you undivided" -- guy is taking dropping words out of sentences to fit the meter to nonsensical new levels. this motherfucker went to harvard.

yeah i had that gripe with his first album, not sure if i wrote about that but i didnt really notice it as much with this one. that kinda intellectual slumming should probably put me off but i tend to give him a pass because i find him so desperate as it is

anyway doesn't that second line you cited go "...givin you my undivided"? that at least makes sense

i'm just gonna say that i v much enjoy his rapping

so i was listening to this tonite & decided actually i love it

"sunday nite" is like the dopest tribute to having a gf ive heard in awhile

you are right about this album btw - one thing i love about his songs is that you can immediately tell how he thought about & constructed each song - each instrumental element is very distinct and deliberate & i'm glad that he didn't lose that when he decided to go funky - more than the-dream or ne-yo leslie feels like a composer to me

he seems more academic about music, if that makes sense (not to bring the harvard thing into the discussion but) - this prob won't register in this thread but he reminds me a lot of spoon - everything is economical, nothing is extraneous

not sure if i actually believe my composer statement when thinking about the 'love vs. money' suite

i'm equally mystified at how unpopular his music is and at why a major label is still releasing his albums - it's not even like he "launched" cassie's career or something seeing as she doesn't have one

he should do more producing for rappers too i think

yeah his tracks for Fab were dope, would love to hear him do more outside production

i haven't really connected w/ Transition yet, but i've yet to hear anything on it that i like remotely as much as "Valentine" and the singles off the first one

yeah nothing has cut as deep as "valentine" or "gibberish" for me either, though i really like "sunday night" and "something that i like"

I really like the record but it often sounds a bit like the lyrics and singing are a pretty major afterthought to all the neat production, like he could be singing fucking anything half the time.

For me the standouts are "Never Gonna Break Up", "You're Not My Girl", "Is It Real Love", and also "All My Love". The music in "All My Love" is really amazing, the bit in the outro with the strings coming in and out is unreal, should go on longer.