L.E.S. (record producer)

L.E.S.
Birth nameLeShan Lewis
Also known as
  • DJ L.E.S.
  • LES
Born (1966-12-07) December 7, 1966 (age 57)
Queens, New York City, U.S.
OriginNorfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
Years active1994–2016
LabelsIll Will

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]

  1. ^ Phillips, Yoh (June 13, 2018). "Which Producer Works Best with Nas? Here Are the 10 Best, Ranked". DJBooth. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
  2. ^ Mass Appeal (April 22, 2019). "The Architects of Illmatic - L.E.S." YouTube. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Kenner, Rob; Ahmed, Insanul (July 2, 2016). "The Making of Nas' 'It Was Written'". Complex Networks. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
  5. ^ "45th Street Studios – 45th Street Norfolk Music Studio". www.45thstreetstudios.com. Retrieved November 20, 2023.