Ryan Leslie, c/d, s/d

find it kinda weird ships is all browz-furrowed given the latter owes 10000 x more to swizz beatz than he does t-pain autowhatever imo

also that hook is str8 linkin park, what's to hate

^what the fuck

anyway "valentine" is my shit right now - i think in this weird way his amateurism works wonders for the album, like he can't really sing and the arrangements often aren't anything spectacular so it leaves his writing right out in the forefront but the dude can reeeeally write hooks

i like how he seemed to give up on trying to take some kind of magic cover photo that would make him look handsome and just went for the most awkward posture possible

― n00bian princess (some dude), Thursday, February 5, 2009 12:29 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha yeah its like 'ugh when is this shoot going to be done hang on let me itch my ass' *CLICK* whoops last roll of film 'ILL TAKE IT'

― k3vin k., Thursday, February 5, 2009 12:31 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark

lol yeah also he didn't even iron his shirt all the way

find it kinda weird ships is all browz-furrowed given the latter owes 10000 x more to swizz beatz than he does t-pain autowhatever imo

― r|t|c, Thursday, February 5, 2009 6:32 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

real talk, if browz did most of these same exact joints w/ zero autotune they probably would be more on some swizzy shit and i probably would like it. but he didn't and they don't, so i don't.

so are we all liking this? 'gibberish' still kills me and the rest are solid and growing on me

i'm all liking the idea of buying the CD when it comes out on tuesday.

I'm suprised how much I like the album, considering I kinda hate R-Les.

the keyboard solo on "i-r-i-n-a" >>>>>>>>>>> everything.

I'm kind of surprised that this album isn't wankier... he kind of contains himself and doesn't show off for the most part

I don't get you Reverend

I'm suprised how much I like the album, considering I kinda hate R-Les.

― I cut my hand on a low-hanging disco ball (The Reverend), Monday, February 9, 2009 4:55 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

other way round for me. there are good songs here (nb: not the really neptunesy one) but he's just an inadequate frontman.

and i did try :(

The thing is that these are very minimal compared to the Neptunes. Leslie's schtick I think is a sort of concise precision.

yeah there's only one or two which are really neptunesy but they kind of infect the rest by proxy a bit. don't get me wrong though, i love r-les's schtick generally, just don't think he can carry an album. will still give this another chance though.

I'll admit, I do tend to just put on a track or two at a time.

Cassie's album shoulda been released instead of this.

not this again

haha

I don't get you Reverend

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― Plaxico (I know, right?), Tuesday, February 10, 2009 2:20 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Dude strikes me as a consumate unlikeable dbag. J0rdan pointed out off-board that I had the exact same initial reaction to The-Dream's album, which I now love, so take that with a grain of salt.

he's more corny than douchey to me

haha it was this coupled with your dislike for the dream album that was making me O_o, glad to hear you've come around on one at least.

not to attack but

Dude strikes me as a consumate unlikeable dbag

i buy this line of thinking re DREEEAMER but w/ leslie i thought the opposition would be w/ his gentlemanly leanings. never got the impression that dude was douchey

I guess "douchey" isn't quite right. Leslie strikes me as one of those people you can tell are trying really hard to appear cool but can't pull it off at all.

a.k.a. corny

he's more corny than douchey to me

― Pregnant M.I.A. (The Brainwasher), Tuesday, February 10, 2009 5:10 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

^otm then

lol ya

That probably goes more within BW's "more corny than douchey" line.

haha xp

fwiw, I never at any point disliked the Dream album, just had reservations about it. Same here.

Although I'm not sure there's anywhere near as much to this album as The-Dream's, which is remarkably dense, especially by comparison.

"Out of the Blue" is the sleeper cut on this album for me... such a smooth track.

i know what you mean, Rev, there are some lines on "Diamond Girl" that always struck me as pretty douchebaggy ("I could be with any fine girl instead of you," "I'm a lead mean, you could be my co-star"), but that hasn't overcome my initial impression of him as a talented corny/nerdy studio rat who does vaguely desperate stuff like juking the stats for his YouTube channel, which somehow makes him more likable or tolerable to me. whereas i really just get the heebie jeebies from The-Dream, even though i sometimes like his music he seems like the biggest talentless fraud with zero charisma imo.

i'm completely with ships here. really the only parts that bug me are the things like ^above which are kinda wtf, because the rest of his lyrics (that i remember anyway) strike me as much more thoughtful and well-intended.
and i think i like him for the opposite reasons that j0rdan said before lol, i find a lot of it to be really carefully and tightfully arranged. and yeah the dude can just write hooks. i still can't really put my finger on why gibberish makes me feel the way it does (good), but it's my favorite song still and i'll have to put more thought into it. though i havent really loved an 09 album yet, i've quite liked a bunch and this might be my favorite so far.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f14/snouts/ryanlezza.gif

i was thinking about this today listening to him, and

impression of him as a talented corny/nerdy studio rat who does vaguely desperate stuff like juking the stats for his YouTube channel, which somehow makes him more likable or tolerable to me

this. along these same lines, when he uses bad grammar in his lyrics (not that often but still), it's really funny and obviously self-conscious (since dude has a 1600 SAT and is a harvard alum) and is really endearing to me.

his phrasing is very cassie. i like the melodies and production on the album, but honestly can't help but HEAR cassie performing this stuff circa her first album. it sounds nothing like the brilliance she's been leaking lately, but the songs and space in them and the rush of words and pauses are all very reminiscent of Cassie (2006) album tracks.

uh oh.. tis the cassie brigade

http://graphics.boston.com:80/resize/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2008/02/06/1202335469_8686/499w.jpg

kinda wish I got that ref

cult of cassie on ilm

sorry. i wasn't trying to be a cassie brigader at the moment. i just meant it's very obvious that ryan leslie wrote much of both albums. the meter and the phrasing and the rhythm of the lyrics/vocals strike me as very similar. i quite like a lot of the r.les album on its own merits - it's good.

the intent of the comment was more...in the same way that I can hear ne-yo's tone/phrasing/standard tropes in songs that he writes for other people, leslie has a very specific type of song style/structure that isn't that common in the genre as a whole.

care to elaborate on that? it's an interesting point

whoops, didnt realize you were the one who mentioned cassie...nevermind, makes sense

cassie getting brought up on the r-les thread should really not surprise anyone, and would be pertinent regardless of cassie hype kru

fwiw she would perform 100% of the songs on his album better than he does

I think his style seems to hang on these awkwardly swung phrasings, lines starting mid-beat and stuff, but in a really poised way, nothing loose about it.

http://sobs.com/newsletter/images/R_n_b_Soul/2009/ryanleslie.jpg

yay can't wait

late on this, but krys ivory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snUJcQuHy-Q

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/211299.jpg
from california, a cancer survivor (this is her life story according to the internet)

man this guy fell the fuck off huh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8VetbXWbFM

okay, I’m glad someone else revived this thread, because I was thinking the other day: did I coin “swagless”?

run it back off his new alb is good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr1Y70FEQRY
handful of good tracks on there i think

He has some slept on cuts where the production was pretty crazy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fj5A1gBVH8

Donell Jones - Better Start Talking

"overdose"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiQciji2V9M

"elektro"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzLtgF1W2Sg

not to completely disregard your posts but i was talking to a zoomer recently who in the context of diddy trial stuff was like "why is cassie even famous?" and so i pulled up "u + me" on my phone and after two seconds of hearing the beat he was like "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

what other rap/r&b beats from that era are as instantly recognizable even to people w/ no connection to the song or artist? like in the "name that tune" sense. "yeah!" probably? "me & u" might be the most iconic 5 notes of the mid 00s

"ice cold" is probably my favorite unreleased cut of his:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40gwYCraPag

these ryan leslie deep cuts are great.