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Interview with Le$
Le$ was born in New Orleans and grew up in Houston. He started rapping at an early age and began to take it seriously as he got older. He is now part of Slim Thug’s Boss Hog Outlawz group and has currently released “Settle 4 Les Vol. II”. Be sure to check out all of his mixtape’s and albums on his website- http://www.SETTLE4LES.com
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Jason
When and where you born?
LES
I was born in New Orleans, LA. 1985. Eastside.
Jason
How did you get started rapping? Who did you look up to?
LES
I mean, I started in school. I used to just mess around with it, but my friends were like “You’re good. Keep working at it.” So I just kept at it and started taking it seriously when I got to college. We had a couple mics set up and we would record on that.
Jason
So in the beginning, were you more of a freestyler, or did you write?
LES
Yea at the beginning it was just freestyling over people’s beats…it was basically like fun and games. Eventually, as you get more serious with it, you start thinking more about songs and all that. That’s when I started writing more and really thinking out my lines.
Jason
How do you think you’ve improved your music talent over the years? You got a real nice flow and rhythm to your music.
LES
The key to that is a lot of practice and repetition. That’s the key to being good at anything. Like basketball players shoot thousands of shots a day. When I listen to my songs, ya know, I start picking out what sounds good and what doesn’t. I begin tweaking it and I try to work on different things. You begin to see what you can and can’t do, but I always like trying new things. It’s really just trial and error.
When and where you born?
LES
I was born in New Orleans, LA. 1985. Eastside.
Jason
How did you get started rapping? Who did you look up to?
LES
I mean, I started in school. I used to just mess around with it, but my friends were like “You’re good. Keep working at it.” So I just kept at it and started taking it seriously when I got to college. We had a couple mics set up and we would record on that.
Jason
So in the beginning, were you more of a freestyler, or did you write?
LES
Yea at the beginning it was just freestyling over people’s beats…it was basically like fun and games. Eventually, as you get more serious with it, you start thinking more about songs and all that. That’s when I started writing more and really thinking out my lines.
Jason
How do you think you’ve improved your music talent over the years? You got a real nice flow and rhythm to your music.
LES
The key to that is a lot of practice and repetition. That’s the key to being good at anything. Like basketball players shoot thousands of shots a day. When I listen to my songs, ya know, I start picking out what sounds good and what doesn’t. I begin tweaking it and I try to work on different things. You begin to see what you can and can’t do, but I always like trying new things. It’s really just trial and error.
Jason
What’s it like coming from these music rich areas? You were born in New Orleans, grew up in Houston. How has that affected you?
LES
It’s real inspiring to have a background like that. Especially New Orleans, there’s jazz, an indie rock scene. It’s very diverse. Houston’s the same. You got your underground hip-hop scene, rock too. Ya know, just a whole bunch of music. There’s probably more music than people think goin on down here in Texas. Most importantly though, it keeps me from being one dimensional. I hear all of these sounds and I want to incorporate them into my music.
Jason
Yea definitely. So, I also saw you were part of the legendary St. Augustine marching band.
LES
Yessir. I played snare. I started out on symbols in the 8th grade. From there, I made my way to snare. That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. It was like boot camp. Their, real, real strict. We worked out harder than the football team.
Jason
Did you partake in any drumline battles?
LES
Yea, it’s kinda like the movie, although they made it seem a little corny in the film. Ya know, Drumline with Nick Cannon. But it was really like that. It was real competitive. People don’t believe it, but there are fights and everything. It can get kinda crazy.
Jason
Haha, yea I bet it can.
LES
Haha, yea. I mean one time we had this big battle in the McDonald’s parking lot. We weren’t even supposed to be there. We just grabbed our equipment and went. All you could hear is a bunch of drums coming from the McDonald’s parking lot. We all got in trouble, but it was cool.
Jason
No Petey Pablo appearances though, I hope.
LES
Hahah, no, no. No Petey Pablo.
Jason
Do you think playing the snare drum has helped with your rap career?
LES
Being in a band and around music, it helps you learn a lot of different things about music. It helps you broaden your horizons. Ya know, in the studio we search through the crates for all types of music that no one has used yet. It really helps with the ear…it makes for better music. Like, sometimes people just make this loud, rambunctious music. And it’s hot for the moment, but the music that lasts has that smooth melody. So it helps with that.
Jason
Yea, especially like in your song “Story To Tell”. It’s got a real laid back vibe to it.
LES
Yea, you look at certain artists like a Jay-Z and Nas. Most of their music is pretty mellow. It’s hard to tell a story over something loud. Like you can’t really tell a story over a Lil John beat (laughs). Like there are records for the club, but I prefer the song’s that are meant to be listened to. It’s also easier to turn those songs into a live performance with a band. Ya know, you can see it turn into a whole show. If you just have like 808’s and synth’s, you can’t really get a band to play it. But with instruments and samples, it’s a lot easier to do that.
Jason
Have you gotten the chance to perform with a live band?
LES
Yea, I’ve gotten to once and it was pretty cool. When I get to the point in my career where I really want to be at, that’s something I would want to do all the time. It really takes the music to another level. It’s also good for the fans. They really enjoy it and they can vibe with the song more. You still of course have your DJ, but you can incorporate different instruments around it. Wale for example, he’s been performing with a live band since he pretty much started. It really adds a whole different dynamic to the performance. You’re not just a rapper by yourself anymore, you become part of the band. It’s like a rock band, they back you up. It also helps too, cuz they can do breakdowns when I gotta catch my breath for a second (laughs), but you can do a lot of crazy things. You just start feeding off one another. It’s real exciting.
Jason
These songs are also portraying some deep meanings you don’t see in a lot of music. You talk about a lot of real life problems. In “Story to Tell”, there’s a part where you talk about a friend that had a steady job, but got addicted to drugs. There’s also the part with the girl stuck in a bad relationship.
LES
Yea, a lot of that comes from real life experiences. I don’t want to drop any names, they deserve their privacy, but yea that’s based on actual experiences and people I know. I try to build off of real experiences.
Jason
Yea, true. Could you also tell me a little bit about working with B.I.G. Krit and your song “Grippin Grain”?
LES
Yea man. Me and Krit, that was the first time we got together. The song itself was actually done a while ago. The video was us basically doing our performance for the “Smoker’s Club Tour” with Currency. But, Krit had reached out to me about a year or so ago, in 2010. It was like right before he blew up. He contacted me cuz he had heard “Settle For Les Vol. 1” and liked it. So we got together, but the song didn’t get a real buzz cuz neither one of us had blown up yet. Once he dropped his mixtape, it became a different story. So Krit was like, let’s put the song out again and everyone was in the video, so that’s how we got that. Krit’s a good guy. He’s one of the few people in this industry I can call a brother. Ya know, he’s always callin me up to see what’s good and how i am. We always look out for each other. He’s real talented.
Jason
What’s it been like performing with all of these other talented musicians, such as Currency, on the “Smoker’s Club Tour”?
LES
It’s cool. It’s always a good experience. Everyone’s on their grind, working hard. I’ve known Currency for a minute, so it’s nice to see him come up and everything. It’s all sold out tours, so it’s just a blessing to be around them. It’s a great learning experience. It shows you that it can happen if it happened to them.
Jason
Yea, and you have seen a lot of rappers lately coming up from the Southern Region, such as New Orleans and Houston.
LES
Yea, it’s cool, cuz you see everybody doing it. It wasn’t just a magic trick. These kids are all working hard. It just shows you, you gotta work hard too and it can happen.
Jason
Yea man. So when did you and Slim Thug come together? You’re part of the Boss Hog Outlawz correct?
LES
Yea, what happened was, I was just out here in Houston, passing around my music and trying to get noticed. Slim Thug’s DJ actually heard of me and we did a mixtape together. After that, it caught on locally and blew up on the internet in the hip-hop community. When that happened, Slim’s brother, who runs the label, saw I was working hard and invited me to come sit down to see what we can do. From there, I started working with Slim a lot in the studio and things started moving pretty fast.
Jason
What’s it like working with Slim Thug in the studio?
LES
He’s a hard worker. He helped my work ethic out a lot. Like, even if we were running around all day doing errands, we still make the time to get in the studio. Even if it’s one song, that’s cool. Some nights you can do more. Sometimes I’ll finish a song and I’ll be like, aright lets keep going. I’ll be there til like 5 in the morning. It’s always good to be prepared and have a lot of work in your portfolio.
Jason
Yea absolutely. I also saw you were talking a bit about the persona of some rappers and smoking weed. Could you shed a little more light on that?
LES
Yea, I noticed a trend that seemed to be going around. I think “the weed rapper” has become a label that some rappers get. Like now you have Wiz and Currency. Their kind of labeled as that. It’s kind of just the world we live in. For example, Ice Cube is labeled a gangster rapper, yet some of his best songs fall in the genre of social commentary. So that’s kinda what I mean. Rappers are getting pushed into a label they might not necessarily want. Like, if your music is laid back, your automatically being labeled a weed rapper. Some dudes want that, others don’t. Plus, you also have the guys that don’t live that lifestyle, but are rapping about it, trying to make some money from it. So that also contributes to the problem. New artists like Kendrick Lamar, he’s getting labeled a concert rapper. I just think people have the need to put a label on everything. Like, it can’t just be what it is. It has to be this specific thing. Ya know, they’ll say he sounds like such and such, it’s just the world we live in like I said before.
Jason
Yea I feel you. I’ve also noticed through listening to your music that you have taken an introspective approach to your music. You come from a similar background like most other rappers, but instead of yelling and screaming about the problems you see in life, you try to explain them and make the listener feel it.
LES
Yea, I mean, I just try to approach my music from a human perspective. I don’t want anybody to think I’m better than them. I want you to listen, I want you to relate. I don’t want to be over anybodies head. I just want us to feel like we’re having a conversation. It’s hard to be different these days in rap, so you just have to stay true to who you are, cuz no one lives your life but you. The song, “Story to Tell”, it comes from my life, but I know it’s something other people have seen before. So basically I just draw from my experiences and hopefully we can all relate.
Jason
Yea that’s definitely a great way to go about creating music. So, just my last question, what’s currently out there for your fans and what else can we expect?
LES
We just dropped “Settle for Les Vol. II”. It’s doin real well right now. It’s got Chamillionaire on there, Bun B, Paul Wall. Just a whole bunch of people from Houston. Ya know, they gave me the co-sign and they just lookin out. I got a track with Mac Miller coming. We are just trying to network. People are reaching out and liking the music. I just keep pushing and working hard. We are trying to do some more videos. I got one with Paul Wall. You can just go on www.Settle4Les.com. Anything I do will be up there. I drop new stuff every week. That’s kinda the game right now. You can find me on Twitter @Settle4Les. Thanx and be good.
