L.E.S. (record producer)
Musical artist
Leshan Lewis (born December 7, 1966), professionally known by his pseudonym L.E.S. , is an American DJ and record producer commonly associated with New York rapper Nas , with whom he grew up in the Queensbridge housing project.[ 1] His first production credit landed on Nas' popular song "Life's a Bitch " from Illmatic album in 1994.[ 2] The following year saw him producing his first charted single, AZ 's "Sugar Hill " from Doe or Die . Since the mid-90's, Lewis has produced songs for hip hop acts such as Shyheim , 50 Cent , Mobb Deep , Royal Flush , LL Cool J , Big Pun , Capone-N-Noreaga , MC Lyte , Flipmode Squad , Rahzel , Benzino , Cassidy and Cormega , Fat Joe , as well as R&B singer Joe, and German rappers Kool Savas and Azad .[ 3]
Lewis first teamed up with hip hop production duo Poke & Tone for the song "Black Girl Lost" from Nas' second studio album It Was Written in 1996.[ 4] Collaboratively, they went on to produce several songs for Will Smith 's 1997 album Big Willie Style , including number-one single "Gettin' Jiggy wit It " and "Miami ", as well as Amil 's 2000 single "I Got That " from All Money Is Legal . He joined forces with record producer Cory Rooney twice, working on R&B hits "Bring It All to Me " by Blaque and "I'm Real " by J.Lo , with the latter has also been produced by Troy Oliver .
Until mid-2008, Lewis took part in almost all the musical projects of Nas and his affiliates, including The Firm , Bravehearts and Nas & Ill Will Records Presents QB's Finest , handling production of the singles "Firm Biz ", "Nastradamus " and "Just a Moment ".
In the 2010s, Lewis and Wyldfyer , with whom he previously collaborated on Nas' Hip Hop Is Dead , produced Jay Rock 's song "Trapped in the Hood" from Black Friday mixtape. Together with Chucky Thompson , with whom he united working on Nas' Street's Disciple , Lewis produced a song "Your Loss" from Busta Rhymes ' The Return of the Dragon (The Abstract Went on Vacation) mixtape. Lewis and record producer Chemist produced Freeway 's song "Kane & Abel" for the rapper's fifth solo studio album Free Will .
In 2014 he starred in documentary film Nas: Time Is Illmatic .
L.E.S. along with DJ Rick Flare co-founded a recording studio named 45th Street Studios located in Norfolk, Virginia .[ 5]
Notable productions
Year
Song
Artist(s)
Album
Notes
1994
"Life's a Bitch "
Nas , AZ
Illmatic
1995
"Sugar Hill "
AZ, Miss Jones
Doe or Die
"Envy"
Fat Joe
Jealous One's Envy
"Fat Joe's in Town"
Fat Joe, DJ Doo Wop
Sure Ya Right (Remix)
N-Tyce
Sure Ya Right 12"
1996
"Shaolin Style"
Shyheim
The Lost Generation
"Street Life"
Mobb Deep , ACD
America Is Dying Slowly
"Black Girl Lost"
Nas, Joel "JoJo" Hailey
It Was Written
prod. w/ Poke & Tone
"Suspect"
Nas
1997
"Worldwide"
Royal Flush
Ghetto Millionaire
"Reppin'"
Royal Flush, Michelle Mitchell
"Starsky & Hutch"
LL Cool J , Busta Rhymes
Phenomenon
"Firm Biz "
The Firm , Dawn Robinson
The Album
"Gettin' Jiggy wit It "
Will Smith
Big Willie Style
co-producer; prod. by Poke & Tone
"Candy"
Will Smith, Cameo
prod. w/ Poke & Tone
"Chasing Forever"
Will Smith
co-producer; prod. by Poke & Tone
"Miami "
prod. w/ Poke & Tone
"Yes Yes Y'all"
Will Smith, Camp Lo
co-producer; prod. by Poke & Tone
"Big Willie Style"
Will Smith, Left Eye
prod. w/ Poke & Tone
1998
"How Ya Livin'"
AZ, Nas
Pieces of a Man
"Just Because"
AZ
"Glamour Life"
Big Pun, Terror Squad
Capital Punishment
"The Way We Live"
Noreaga , Chico DeBarge
N.O.R.E.
"Da Story"
Noreaga, Maze
"My Time"
MC Lyte
Seven & Seven
"The Crack Attack"
Fat Joe
Don Cartagena
"Everything"
Flipmode Squad
The Imperial
1999
"Bring It All to Me "
Blaque , JC Chasez
Blaque
prod. w/ Cory Rooney
"Favor for a Favor"
Nas, Scarface
I Am...
"I Want to Talk to You"
Nas
prod. w/ Al West
"Life Is What You Make It"
Nas, DMX
"K-I-SS-I-N-G"
Nas
prod. w/ Al West
"Undying Love"
"Suga Sista"
Rahzel , Aaron Hall , The Roots
Make the Music 2000
prod. w/ Rahzel
"Wise Guys for Life"
Made Men
Classic Limited Edition
prod. w/ Poke & Tone
"Classic Limited Edition"
"Life We Chose"
Nas
Nastradamus
"Nastradamus "
"Last Words"
Nas, Nashawn
"Big Girl"
Nas
"New World"
"Corner Bodega (Coke Spot)"
50 Cent
Power of the Dollar
2000
"My Turn"
Big Pun
Yeeeah Baby
co-prod. by Al West
"I Got That "
Amil , Beyoncé
All Money Is Legal
prod. w/ Poke & Tone
"Shit Like This"
Nature
For All Seasons
"Phonetime"
Capone-N-Noreaga
The Reunion
"B EZ"
Capone-N-Noreaga, Nas
"Intro"
Jungle, Wiz
Nas & Ill Will Records Presents QB's Finest
"Da Bridge 2001"
Nas, Capone , Mobb Deep, Tragedy Khadafi , Nature, MC Shan , Marley Marl , Cormega , Millennium Thug
prod. w/ Nas
"Real Niggas"
Nas, Ruc da Jackal
"Find Ya Wealth"
Nas
prod. w/ Nas
"Straight Outta Q.B."
Cormega, Jungle, Blaq Poet
co-prod. by Cormega
"Fire"
Nature
"Street Glory"
Nas, Pop
"We Break Bread"
Lord Black, Littles, Craig G , Chaos
2001
"I'm Real "
Jennifer Lopez
J.Lo
prod. w/ Troy Oliver & Cory Rooney
"Cartel"
Cuban Link , Billy Klubz, Raze, Reif Hustle, Buck 50, Korleone, Don Dinero
24K
"The Flyest"
Nas, AZ
Stillmatic
"Every Ghetto"
Nas, Pop
2002
"Take It Off"
AZ
Aziatic
"Black Clouds"
Noreaga, Complexion
God's Favorite
co-prod. by K-Yze
"Block Party"
Will Smith
prod. w/ Herb Middleton,
"U Gotta Love It"
Nas
The Lost Tapes
"Nothing Lasts Forever"
"Blaze a 50"
prod. w/ Poke & Tone
2003
"Call My Name"
Benzino , Jadakiss
Redemption
"You Dropped Your Dime"
Joe
And Then...
prod. w/ Neil da Real
"I Wanna"
Bravehearts
Bravehearted
"What U Hold Down"
Troy S.L.U.G.S., Capone
Troy S.L.U.G.S.
2004
"A Message to the Feds, Sincerely, We the People"
Nas
Street's Disciple
prod. w/ Chucky Thompson & Salaam Remi
"Disciple"
"Rest of My Life"
prod. w/ Chucky Thompson, voc. prod. by Salaam Remi
"Just a Moment "
Nas, Quan
"Reason"
Nas, Emily King
prod. w/ Chucky Thompson
"Remember the Times"
Nas
"The Makings of a Perfect Bitch"
prod. w/ T. Black & Nut
"Me & You (Dedicated to Destiny)"
prod. w/ Herb Middleton
2005
"What's Really Good"
Benzino, Scarface, Young Hardy
Arch Nemesis
"Intro"
Kool Savas , Azad
One
"All 4 One"
"Kick It wit You"
Cassidy , Mario
I'm a Hustla
"What It's Hittin' 4"
B. Rich
Born Rich
"Born Rich"
prod. w/ Malcom Flythe
"Life We Choose"
"Birthday"
2006
"Money Over Bullshit"
Nas
Hip Hop Is Dead
prod. w/ Wyldfyer
"You Can't Kill Me"
prod. w/ Al West
"Black Republican"
Nas, Jay-Z
prod. w/ Wyldfyer
"Hope"
Nas
prod. w/ Nas & Alexander "Spanador" Mosely
2007
"Somebody Gotta Die"
Nashawn, Jungle
Mass Destruction
prod. w/ Nut
2008
"I Want In"
Bravehearts, Nas
Bravehearted 2
"Is You Aight"
Bravehearts
"Itz So Hard"
2Five
The Watcher
2009
"Girl"
Cormega
Born and Raised
co-prod. by Cormega
2010
"Trapped in the Hood"
Jay Rock
Black Friday
prod. w/ Wyldfyer
2015
"Your Loss"
Busta Rhymes, Mary J. Blige
The Return of the Dragon (The Abstract Went on Vacation)
prod. w/ Chucky Thompson
2016
"Kane & Abel"
Freeway
Free Will
prod. w/ Chemist
References
^ Phillips, Yoh (June 13, 2018). "Which Producer Works Best with Nas? Here Are the 10 Best, Ranked" . DJBooth . Retrieved November 20, 2023 .
^ Mass Appeal (April 22, 2019). "The Architects of Illmatic - L.E.S." YouTube . Retrieved November 20, 2023 .
^ Wojszkun, Maciej (April 21, 2019). "25 years of Nas "Illmatic" - interview with "Life's a Bitch" producer L.E.S." PopkillerTV . Retrieved November 20, 2023 – via YouTube .
^ Kenner, Rob; Ahmed, Insanul (July 2, 2016). "The Making of Nas' 'It Was Written' " . Complex Networks . Retrieved November 20, 2023 .
^ "45th Street Studios – 45th Street Norfolk Music Studio" . www.45thstreetstudios.com . Retrieved November 20, 2023 .
External links