leslie stays making hot beats
― rembrandt what (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 2 July 2009 03:21 (fourteen years ago) link
produced by the Neptunes (supposedly...):
― zzz (deej), Thursday, 2 July 2009 08:22 (fourteen years ago) link
i didnt mean this song specifically - i can read
― rembrandt what (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 2 July 2009 08:35 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqQmurICzychttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH8xjx4jOf8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvFps1j-Iro
new album is shaping up to be great, I'm loving practically all of the leaks...
― The Brainwasher, Thursday, 16 July 2009 15:40 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.9937/title.ryan-leslie-debuts-transition-says-it-was-all-for-a-girl
Album release date: Nov. 3Track List1. Never Gonna Break Up2. Something That I Like (feat. Pusha T)3. Zodiac4. Is It Real Love5. Sunday Night6. You're Not My Girl7. To The Top8. Nothing9. Guardian Angel10. All My Love11. I Choose You
― Oy!J da Jewman (Alex in Montreal), Thursday, 8 October 2009 23:56 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Oy!J da Jewman (Alex in Montreal), Thursday, 8 October 2009 23:57 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― got that candy zing (Tape Store), Friday, 9 October 2009 02:44 (fourteen years ago) link
damn, pumped for this
― jackie off the chain (k3vin k.), Friday, 9 October 2009 02:47 (fourteen years ago) link
mildly so
― hood acumen (The Reverend), Friday, 9 October 2009 03:08 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah def excited for this - good for 5 or 6 out and out bangers at worst
― it takes a nation of 51 to hold us back (J0rdan S.), Friday, 9 October 2009 03:37 (fourteen years ago) link
this is out there and very good
― booth, Tuesday, 27 October 2009 01:23 (fourteen years ago) link
whoaaa
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 27 October 2009 01:24 (fourteen years ago) link
this has been such a crazy month
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 27 October 2009 01:25 (fourteen years ago) link
too lazy to take these thoughts and make them a cohesive post
mei'm just listening thru laptop speakers right now butyou know, it's weirdi get this feeling that he's obv a technically great musician, his arrangements are greatbut... there's something that doesn't totally grasp me about his musiche might be a boring lyricist or personality maybe idkthis album is good tho, it's really glitzy, almost cheesy in places, but it's a bit funkierk3vinyeah 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 singsit doesnt bother me too much tho, like you said i'm basically a fan of his music firstit might be telling that my favorite song of his is "gibberish", which doesnt really have any lyrics to speak ofmeIT'S FUNNY THAT YOU MENTION THATk3vinhe's more than capable of creating atmospheres and moods through his arrangements, and yeah he kinda trips over his own feet occasionallymethis is the last paragraph of my popmatters review of the first albumHe 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.k3vinotmmethis new album def has more complex and interesting arrangements than the first albumseems more cohesivebut we'll seetrying to place my finger on why it doesn't grab mei'm trying to think about him in relation to ne-yok3vini wasnt huge on "i'm not your girl", i'm hoping itll hook me more in album contextne-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 respectmeha there is a real \m/ guitar solo on one of these songsit's kind of hilariousk3vinoh dearmeit's like hearing a hair metal solo from someone else's headphonesi like it a lot thok3vinhaah okmeyeah i mean, the hyper-specifity of ne-yo doesn't grab me either necessarilyi 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? idki should post about thisk3vinto a certain extent lex is right w/ his criticisms of lesliehe likes his music but thinks he's an incapable frontmanbut 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, teriusi 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 hardmaybe that was shipleyin 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 thatmethe thing is, i can't really imagine a more "dynamic" singer singing these songsi can't picture what that would add, if anythingi think he writes his songs with himself in mindlike there's not that much room for freewheeling vocallybut maybe he just chooses not to because he can'tk3vinmaybe 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
― a goon boy (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 03:11 (fourteen years ago) link
i think the problem is that he's singing the songs and cassie isn't
― ben folds' cover of "such great heights" (Tape Store), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 03:16 (fourteen years ago) link
('cassie' could also be replaced with, like, 'krys ivory' or whoever, though cassie is still probably the best voice for leslie)
― ben folds' cover of "such great heights" (Tape Store), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 03:25 (fourteen years ago) link
whomeverrr
THIS LEAKED? Jeez. Bad night to be out on the town. Finding it now.
― 7borad dudes get sb'd, frequently. (Alex in Montreal), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 04:41 (fourteen years ago) link
Liking way more than the first album, initially. I'm only about a third of the way in tho.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 27 October 2009 04:47 (fourteen years ago) link
she'ssss got that somethingshe's got that sooomethingthat i liiiike
― k3vin k., Sunday, 1 November 2009 22:34 (fourteen years ago) link
come on guys, this album is hot
― k3vin k., Monday, 2 November 2009 00:04 (fourteen years ago) link
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
― plaks (I know, right?), Monday, 2 November 2009 00:08 (fourteen years ago) link
still waiting for that to happen with the first album tbh
― some dude, Monday, 2 November 2009 00:14 (fourteen years ago) link
honestly this album's even less immediate - it's darker, bassier, more contemplative. it's a total winter record
― k3vin k., Monday, 2 November 2009 01:36 (fourteen years ago) link
dude needs to STOP rapping though, real talk
― k3vin k., Monday, 2 November 2009 01:37 (fourteen years ago) link
this album's better than the 1st
i guess i like his 'bloopy bubble backround noise' effect more than 'neptunes bass jangle' effect
― heart goin ham (deej), Monday, 2 November 2009 10:30 (fourteen years ago) link
i still find dude a way more difficult presence as an artist than he should be, though
like when folks hate on the-dream's persona, i find leslie way more ... i dunno ... unlikeable. hes so much more reserved & insincere feeling or something
― heart goin ham (deej), Monday, 2 November 2009 10:31 (fourteen years ago) link
i like him because i think he is more relatable in a different way
― plaks (I know, right?), Monday, 2 November 2009 17:57 (fourteen years ago) link
love that pusha t almost sounds like he's rapping about liking project runway. from cooking crack to sundays on the couch watching bravo...
― Moreno, Monday, 2 November 2009 18:18 (fourteen years ago) link
i find leslie way more ... i dunno ... unlikeable. hes so much more reserved & insincere feeling or something
kind of sad that i can't engage w/ this album despite the fact that i really want to. there's just no excitement or something.
― Moreno, Monday, 2 November 2009 21:38 (fourteen years ago) link
andy k, <3 the brady bunch ref in your review
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 3 November 2009 22:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Lanvin broke niggas call em ray-bans
― bare grills (tpp), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 22:32 (fourteen years ago) link
i don't think leslie is more unlikable he's just a more boring writer
― a goon boy (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 22:47 (fourteen years ago) link
i think he's definitely "unlikable" - there's plenty of other issues that make his assholishness interesting & worthwhile to me though
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 3 November 2009 22:48 (fourteen years ago) link
like what
― a goon boy (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 22:50 (fourteen years ago) link
i could see not "liking" him because he's sort of a boring presence but i think you really need to be stretching with your extrapolation to think he's actively an asshole or something
― a goon boy (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 22:51 (fourteen years ago) link
I find him obnoxious but I've no idea why so it's completely unjustified. I like both his albums this year
― bare grills (tpp), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 22:54 (fourteen years ago) link
don't get much of an asshole vibe from him, but find him less likable than The Dream b/c he a boring writer/performer.
― Moreno, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 23:09 (fourteen years ago) link
interesting though that everyone sites "gibberish," the one song he didn't write vocals for, as his high point. you do get the feeling in his singing that he's also a little bored by his lyrics. he does seem looser or something on "gibberish." i could see the process of writing the words instead of just singing random shit taking the fun out of it.
― Moreno, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 23:18 (fourteen years ago) link
― a goon boy (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, November 3, 2009 5:50 PM (53 minutes ago)
fwiw, here's what i just wrote, last paragraph of my review
The usual complaints arise, of course – first and foremost, Leslie needs to drop this deluded dream he has of being a rapper. Songs like “Sunday Night” threaten to be sabotaged by Leslie’s laughably gauche punchlines, and even on “Something That I Like” (where his swagless “rapping” is actually much more tolerable), he’s completely upstaged by a very average Pusha T verse. At best, though, Leslie’s lyrics are agreeably bland, so what makes him so damn compelling? Is it my own sadistic nerd projection? Maybe; there’s certainly something gratifying in seeing a Harvard-educated wannabe playboy continually trip over his own lyrical feet. But Leslie’s gift for melody and mood is undeniable, and ultimately his strengths outweigh his weaknesses, especially on this record. For as long as he’s going to be referring to the girl he’s trying to get to spend the night with him as his “sidekick,” he’s gonna need to keep whipping up these great gloomy atmospheres to bum out to.
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 3 November 2009 23:45 (fourteen years ago) link
swagless!
― 51 sent (The Reverend), Wednesday, 4 November 2009 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
thank you
― swagless price (The Reverend), Wednesday, 4 November 2009 00:02 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah i don't really get an asshole vibe from him either, occasional "I could be with any other fine girl instead of you" lyrics aside, more like he's just a studio nerd famous for desperate web 2.0 stunts like faking YouTube stats, which would make me like him less if i didn't think he was a really talented guy and kind of an underdog
― the tuppence takes manhattan (some dude), Wednesday, 4 November 2009 00:48 (fourteen years ago) link
wasn't he cleared of the youtube controversy?
― booth, Wednesday, 4 November 2009 03:20 (fourteen years ago) link
i dunno, never heard anything proving he didn't, link?
― the tuppence takes manhattan (some dude), Wednesday, 4 November 2009 04:16 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoHr2QmB2Mo
― booth, Wednesday, 4 November 2009 05:02 (fourteen years ago) link
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).
― r|t|c, Wednesday, 4 November 2009 14:59 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― r|t|c, Wednesday, 4 November 2009 15:09 (fourteen years ago) link
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
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 4 November 2009 15:14 (fourteen years ago) link
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
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 4 November 2009 15:16 (fourteen years ago) link