Recap: Ryan Leslie at New York’s Bowery Ballroom
Photo by Helen Marie
The Bowery Ballroom opened its doors last Tuesday for a special 2-day experience of Ryan Leslie. Coming to the stage in black jeans, leather vest, denim shirt and black shades to match, Ryan was in character and ready to play. He went from hip-hop to R&B then switching it up with a few ballad selections. Ryan Leslie has no problem busting through genre boxes one might attempt to lock his music into. His creativity and genius are the product of his dedication—his Harvard degree in music are proof enough. Below is a short recap of six songs from last week’s performance.
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Video: Ryan Leslie “When I Think About Love”
All Day I Dream About Soccer is still a great unofficial acronym for adidas. As you get older though, playing the game where you come up with different meanings for adidas gets better. Rather than digress by subbing “the nasty” for the last “S”, adidas kept it PG by having some nice-guy R&B represent love for the Originals brand.
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Cloudkickers: Clearing Away the Overcast In Nina Sky
Holy Déjà Vu! Nina Sky’s patience with their label Polo Grounds went out a 50-foot window last week when they used Twitter to air out their frustration over the mishandling of their sophomore album. Now here’s the double take: remember when the feud between the L.O.X vs. Diddy got ugly, spilling out onto Hot 97 with D-Block demanding to be let go from Bad Boy? Yeah, that one. Things are a little different though, since the advent of social networking. Natalie and Nicole posted the direct e-mail and phone number to label figurehead, Bryan Leech, which arguably one-upped Jadakiss’ tough talk about a refrigerator landing on Puffy. Ouch!
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Video: Ryan Leslie f. Baiyu, “When We Dance”
Don’t know what it is, but this video makes us think Ryan Leslie is sexy for the first time in our entire lives. WHAT? Maybe dude needs to mean mug a little more often?
Ryan Leslie, “Angel”
Ryan Leslie isn’t the greatest rapper, but for some reason we don’t mind hearing him do it. Other than that this song is your standard “you’re my baby FOREVER” fare except Ryan takes that kind of thing seriously. The beat sounds like it samples a mobile (you know those things you put on cribs to stimulate infant minds) and he’s even using his lullaby voice. Who’s your daddy? RYAN LESLIE’S YOUR DADDY!—Judnick Mayard
Download: Ryan Leslie, “Angel”
Ryan Leslie, “I Choose You”
“R. Les for prez!” Fabolous proclaimed on one of his a Ryan Leslie’s now regular link-ups. Well, we already have a president. One who, coincidentally, is also black and who also went to Harvard. R. Les, however, doesn’t have the nation’s problems on his shoulders, but instead, the age old qualm of finding true love and doing right by his main gal. But at least he’s got the first part figured out.
Download: Ryan Leslie, “I Choose You”
Ryan Leslie f. Consequence, “You’re Not My Girl” Remix
So he took you on a couple of dates, spoiled you with the finest of name brands, and held your hand while walking down the street. Well, the usually love-preaching Ryan Leslie would like to inform you…you are NOT his girl (let it echo in that Maury Povich voice). Oh, and he’s called in G.O.O.D. music’s resident lie detector technician Consequence to tell you the same.
Download: Ryan Leslie ft. Consequence “Your Not My Girl” Remix
Ryan Leslie “Ice Cold”
Dear R.Les,
Where is all of this new music going? It can’t possibly all fit on one album. Are you doing a double disc? I mean, I’m not complaining, I love it. But still, are you some kind of songwriting robot machine? On another note, I saw you perform last week at BB Kings and I must say, you killed it my friend. The energy in the room was at an all time high and your band is ridiculous. How do you jump around so much with out getting tired? It was nice to see you so genuinely appreciative of your fans and taking time to say hello to everyone you made eye contact with. You’re doing good kid, keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
KF
Download: Ryan Leslie “Ice Cold”
Fabolous ft. Keri Hilson & Ryan Leslie “Everything, Every Day, Everywhere”
Finally, a visual for the song I’ve been playing like crazy. The video for Fabolous‘ “Everything, Every Day, Everywhere” featuring the beautiful Keri Hilson and the musical mad hatter, Ryan Leslie, is here on the day of the release of his fifth album, Loso’s Way. Shot from a paparazzi’s eye view, we see the club…pretty ladies, champagne flowing and money, as well as Tamala Jones, Officer Ricky and Amerie. The video actually begins with a bit of an explanation in, “No matter where you go, they’re always there…” regarding the paps, of course. But maybe, Suite903 too.
SUITE903 TV Exclusive: Ryan Leslie Tells All
Feels only right that we post this exclusive interview with Ryan Leslie today, since I have had his song with Fabolous and Keri Hilson “Everything, Every Day, Everywhere” on ridiculous-rewind ALL week. The truly talented Leslie sits down with us to discuss his musical influences, his love for New Jack Swing, and the moment he realized music was for him. He also shares that his motivation is not record sales but making good music, which by his whirlwind year of success is proving him right. From sprinkling his magical production fairy dust on other artists tracks, to releasing a debut self-titled album of his own (which is amazing), I would say this Harvard grad chose the right path.
