L.E.S.
Birth nameLeShan Lewis
Also known as
  • DJ L.E.S.
  • LES
Born (1966-12-07) December 7, 1966
Queensbridge Houses, New York City, New York, US
OriginNorfolk, Virginia, US
Genres
Occupation(s)
Years active1994–2016
LabelsIll Will Records

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 Fat Joe, Shyheim, Mobb Deep, Royal Flush, LL Cool J, Big Pun, Capone-N-Noreaga, MC Lyte, Flipmode Squad, Rahzel, Benzino, Cassidy and Cormega, 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
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 co-prod. by 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
"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, voc. prod. by O.Banga
"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

  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.
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