Spring Break
Review: New Ryan Leslie album has melody, lacks lyrical prowess
7.5/10 stars
Kevin Keller
Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Focus
Never let it be said that Ryan Leslie is a slacker. Making up for lost time after his never-was debut album was shelved in 2005, this week Leslie released Transition," his second full-length of 2009. Leslie will probably never attain the kind of A-list star status he probably thinks he deserves, but for now we can deal if he continues to churn out solid records like these every nine months or so. "Ryan Leslie" is among the best R&B albums of the year, and "Transition" hardly pales in comparison.
The first difference you notice on the new joint is the subtle shift in mood. Leslie's first album is filled to the brim with big hooks, jump-out-the-speakers post-Neptunes whizzes and bloops and a healthy dose of treble. "Transition" is decidedly more understated; a true winter record, it's appreciably bassier, darker and more contemplative.
"Something That I Like," an early standout, features a choice melancholic organ sample underlying Leslie's double tracked titular chorus. When the beat drops out in the second part of the refrain, Les is left by himself in an almost a capella reprise, and as his voice slowly slips lower and lower in register, his forlorn love ode becomes increasingly resonant. It's one of the few moments on either record where he sounds truly human.
Leslie's real strengths, as usual, lie in his production. The lead single "You're Not My Girl" flosses a big, catchy post-FutureSex/LoveSounds beat that might suffer for this comparison were it not for those great housey keys and that driving four-to-the-floor bounce. The beat to "Is It Real Love" finds our man revisiting his classic hit formula probably best seen on Slim's "Good Lovin'" and spicing it up a bit with a few deft synth whooshes and zips. Though the production highs are probably a little less pronounced than on his first album, there's nothing as immediately bananas as "Diamond Girl," probably nothing as deep-cutting as "Valentine," nothing as gloriously weird as "Gibberish." "Transition" finds Leslie settling into a comfortable niche, and there are few better at what he does best.
The usual complaints arise, of course. First and foremost, Leslie needs to drop his deluded dream 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.
The first difference you notice on the new joint is the subtle shift in mood. Leslie's first album is filled to the brim with big hooks, jump-out-the-speakers post-Neptunes whizzes and bloops and a healthy dose of treble. "Transition" is decidedly more understated; a true winter record, it's appreciably bassier, darker and more contemplative.
"Something That I Like," an early standout, features a choice melancholic organ sample underlying Leslie's double tracked titular chorus. When the beat drops out in the second part of the refrain, Les is left by himself in an almost a capella reprise, and as his voice slowly slips lower and lower in register, his forlorn love ode becomes increasingly resonant. It's one of the few moments on either record where he sounds truly human.
Leslie's real strengths, as usual, lie in his production. The lead single "You're Not My Girl" flosses a big, catchy post-FutureSex/LoveSounds beat that might suffer for this comparison were it not for those great housey keys and that driving four-to-the-floor bounce. The beat to "Is It Real Love" finds our man revisiting his classic hit formula probably best seen on Slim's "Good Lovin'" and spicing it up a bit with a few deft synth whooshes and zips. Though the production highs are probably a little less pronounced than on his first album, there's nothing as immediately bananas as "Diamond Girl," probably nothing as deep-cutting as "Valentine," nothing as gloriously weird as "Gibberish." "Transition" finds Leslie settling into a comfortable niche, and there are few better at what he does best.
The usual complaints arise, of course. First and foremost, Leslie needs to drop his deluded dream 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.
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