Ryan Leslie, c/d, s/d

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)

guyz, check out this old beat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0BM3hlQwP0

a few hours later, i'm really digging that krys ivory song. she has a new look, wow:

http://images.teamsugar.com/files/upl2/33/330044/24_2009/33f99cb3d1f78157_KRYS.jpg

wow is one way to put it...

i don't really like r-les when he raps, like at all, so i'm not even gonna let this grow on me. still will rep for the album tho

New album Transition this fall... first single "You're Not My Girl" produced by the Neptunes (supposedly...):

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

ooh nice.

leslie stays making hot beats

produced by the Neptunes (supposedly...):

i didnt mean this song specifically - i can read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqQmurICzyc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH8xjx4jOf8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvFps1j-Iro

new album is shaping up to be great, I'm loving practically all of the leaks...

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.9937/title.ryan-leslie-debuts-transition-says-it-was-all-for-a-girl

Album release date: Nov. 3
Track List
1. Never Gonna Break Up
2. Something That I Like (feat. Pusha T)
3. Zodiac
4. Is It Real Love
5. Sunday Night
6. You're Not My Girl
7. To The Top
8. Nothing
9. Guardian Angel
10. All My Love
11. I Choose You

You're Not My Girl is a great slice of post-Neptunes funk. All My Love and Something That I Like are also A++. We'll see if he can actually pull off two great album in under a year. Hope so.

His solo stuff is really good, but it's not as good as his work with Cassie. That whole album is great, but "Just One Nite" is really hitting me hard today.

damn, pumped for this

mildly so

yeah def excited for this - good for 5 or 6 out and out bangers at worst

this is out there and very good

whoaaa

this has been such a crazy month

too lazy to take these thoughts and make them a cohesive post

me
i'm just listening thru laptop speakers right now but
you know, it's weird
i get this feeling that he's obv a technically great musician, his arrangements are great
but... there's something that doesn't totally grasp me about his music
he might be a boring lyricist or personality maybe idk
this album is good tho, it's really glitzy, almost cheesy in places, but it's a bit funkier
k3vin
yeah he's definitely a boring lyricist - i realy like the first one but there's this disparity b/w the great beats and the kinda bland lyrics he sings
it doesnt bother me too much tho, like you said i'm basically a fan of his music first
it might be telling that my favorite song of his is "gibberish", which doesnt really have any lyrics to speak of
me
IT'S FUNNY THAT YOU MENTION THAT
k3vin
he's more than capable of creating atmospheres and moods through his arrangements, and yeah he kinda trips over his own feet occasionally
me
this is the last paragraph of my popmatters review of the first album
He ends with his most left-field track, “Gibberish”. The song finds Leslie using AutoTune to turn his vocals into soup and to muddle his lyrics completely beyond recognition. The commentary—overtly placing the success of the song solely on the melody and arrangement—is if not slyly intentional, then ironically emblematic. Naturally, it’s the prettiest song on the album.
k3vin
otm
me
this new album def has more complex and interesting arrangements than the first album
seems more cohesive
but we'll see
trying to place my finger on why it doesn't grab me
i'm trying to think about him in relation to ne-yo
k3vin
i wasnt huge on "i'm not your girl", i'm hoping itll hook me more in album context
ne-yo's a different kind of dude...i think he's mad overrated melodically but hs lyrics tend to be pretty good - he's very descriptive and specific and for me, tends to avoid banality in that respect
me
ha there is a real \m/ guitar solo on one of these songs
it's kind of hilarious
k3vin
oh dear
me
it's like hearing a hair metal solo from someone else's headphones
i like it a lot tho
k3vin
haah ok
me
yeah i mean, the hyper-specifity of ne-yo doesn't grab me either necessarily
i mean like, i guess leslie could never write a song like "mad"
not sure if he could ever write one line as sweeping in its succinctness and otmness as "i don't want to go to bed mad at you"
leslie is wordier but it doesn't bring much to the table maybe? idk
i should post about this
k3vin
to a certain extent lex is right w/ his criticisms of leslie
he likes his music but thinks he's an incapable frontman
but i guess for me it doesnt bother me that he's not this great personality, though i'll never like him as much as, say, terius
i think we had a conversation about this months ago iirc - he's kind of endearing in his over-earnestness and in that he seems to be trying way too hard
maybe that was shipley
in my review i cited a line from "I.R.I.N.A.": "i may not speak your language, but i know just what to say"
basically said that the line would be much more effective imo if it were reversed, but that it's clear he's trying and so he gets a pass for that
me
the thing is, i can't really imagine a more "dynamic" singer singing these songs
i can't picture what that would add, if anything
i think he writes his songs with himself in mind
like there's not that much room for freewheeling vocally
but maybe he just chooses not to because he can't
k3vin
maybe that problem lies in the fact that he's the dude that writes the songs - someone else could come up with something totally different w/ the equivalent beat

i think the problem is that he's singing the songs and cassie isn't

('cassie' could also be replaced with, like, 'krys ivory' or whoever, though cassie is still probably the best voice for leslie)

whomeverrr

THIS LEAKED? Jeez. Bad night to be out on the town. Finding it now.

Liking way more than the first album, initially. I'm only about a third of the way in tho.

she'ssss got that something
she's got that sooomething
that i liiiike

come on guys, this album is hot

yeah but not in a way you get all excited about up front. ur sposed to realise that all the songs are in ur head six months later and be like "hey remember this turns out it was awesome" IMO

still waiting for that to happen with the first album tbh

honestly this album's even less immediate - it's darker, bassier, more contemplative. it's a total winter record

dude needs to STOP rapping though, real talk