L.E.S.

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. His first production credit landed on Nas' popular song "Life's a Bitch" from Illmatic album in 1994. 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.

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. 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.

Notable productions +YearSongArtist(s)AlbumNotes1994"Life's a Bitch"Nas, AZIllmatic1995"Sugar Hill"AZ, Miss JonesDoe or Die"Sugar Hill" (Remix)"Envy"Fat JoeJealous One's Envy"Fat Joe's in Town"Fat Joe, DJ Doo WopSure Ya Right (Remix)N-TyceSure Ya Right 12"1996"Shaolin Style"ShyheimThe Lost Generation"Shaolin Style" (Remix) 12""Stick Em"Mother Superia 12" "Street Life"Mobb Deep, ACDAmerica Is Dying Slowly"Black Girl Lost"Nas, Joel "JoJo" HaileyIt Was Writtenprod. w/ Poke & Tone"Suspect"Nas1997"Worldwide"Royal FlushGhetto Millionaire"Reppin'"Royal Flush, Michelle Mitchell"Starsky & Hutch"LL Cool J, Busta RhymesPhenomenon"Firm Biz"The Firm, Dawn RobinsonThe Album"Gettin' Jiggy wit It"Will SmithBig Willie Styleco-producer; prod. by Poke & Tone"Candy"Will Smith, Cameoprod. w/ Poke & Tone"Chasing Forever"Will Smithco-producer; prod. by Poke & Tone"Miami"prod. w/ Poke & Tone"Yes Yes Y'all"Will Smith, Camp Loco-producer; prod. by Poke & Tone"Big Willie Style"Will Smith, Left Eyeprod. w/ Poke & Tone1998"How Ya Livin'"AZ, NasPieces of a Man"Just Because"AZ"Glamour Life"Big Pun, Terror SquadCapital Punishment"The Way We Live"Noreaga, Chico DeBargeN.O.R.E."Da Story"Noreaga, Maze"My Time"MC LyteSeven & Seven"The Crack Attack"Fat JoeDon Cartagena"Everything"Flipmode SquadThe Imperial1999"Bring It All to Me"Blaque, JC ChasezBlaqueprod. w/ Cory Rooney"Favor for a Favor"Nas, ScarfaceI Am..."I Want to Talk to You"Nasprod. w/ Al West"Life Is What You Make It"Nas, DMX"K-I-SS-I-N-G"Nasprod. w/ Al West"Undying Love""Suga Sista"Rahzel, Aaron Hall, The RootsMake the Music 2000prod. w/ Rahzel"Wise Guys for Life"Made MenClassic Limited Editionprod. w/ Poke & Tone"Classic Limited Edition""Life We Chose"NasNastradamus"Nastradamus""Last Words"Nas, Nashawn"Big Girl"Nas"New World"2000"My Turn"Big PunYeeeah Babyco-prod. by Al West"I Got That"Amil, BeyoncéAll Money Is Legalprod. w/ Poke & Tone"Shit Like This"NatureFor All SeasonsTheme of New York Ali VegasGeneration Gap"Corner Bodega (Coke Spot)"50 CentPower of the Dollar {unreleased} "Phonetime"Capone-N-NoreagaThe Reunion"B EZ"Capone-N-Noreaga, Nas"Intro"Jungle, WizNas & Ill Will Records Presents QB's Finest"Da Bridge 2001"Nas, Capone, Mobb Deep, Tragedy Khadafi, Nature, MC Shan, Marley Marl, Cormega, Millennium Thugprod. w/ Nas"Real Niggas"Nas, Ruc da Jackal"Find Ya Wealth"Nasprod. w/ Nas"Straight Outta Q.B."Cormega, Jungle, Blaq Poetco-prod. by Cormega"Fire"Nature"Street Glory"Nas, Pop"We Break Bread"Lord Black, Littles, Craig G, Chaos2001"I'm Real"Jennifer LopezJ.Loprod. w/ Troy Oliver & Cory Rooney"Cartel"Cuban Link, Billy Klubz, Raze, Reif Hustle, Buck 50, Korleone, Don Dinero24K {unreleased}"The Flyest"Nas, AZStillmatic"Every Ghetto"Nas, Pop2002"Take It Off"AZAziatic"Black Clouds"Noreaga, ComplexionGod's Favoriteco-prod. by K-Yze"Block Party"Will SmithBorn to Reignprod. w/ Herb Middleton, "U Gotta Love It"NasThe Lost Tapes"Nothing Lasts Forever""Blaze a 50"prod. w/ Poke & Tone2003"Call My Name"Benzino, JadakissRedemption"You Dropped Your Dime"JoeAnd Then...prod. w/ Neil da Real"I Wanna"BraveheartsBravehearted"What U Hold Down"Troy S.L.U.G.S., CaponeTroy S.L.U.G.S.2004"A Message to the Feds, Sincerely, We the People"NasStreet's Discipleprod. 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 Kingprod. 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 Middleton2005"What's Really Good"Benzino, Scarface, Young HardyArch Nemesis"Intro"Kool Savas, AzadOne"All 4 One""Kick It wit You"Cassidy, MarioI'm a Hustla"What It's Hittin' 4"B. RichBorn Rich"Born Rich"prod. w/ Malcom Flythe"Life We Choose""Birthday"2006"Money Over Bullshit"NasHip Hop Is Deadprod. w/ Wyldfyer"You Can't Kill Me"prod. w/ Al West"Black Republican"Nas, Jay-Zprod. w/ Wyldfyer"Hope"Nasprod. w/ Nas & Alexander "Spanador" Mosely2007"Somebody Gotta Die"Nashawn, JungleMass Destructionprod. w/ Nut2008"I Want In"Bravehearts, NasBravehearted 2"Is You Aight"Bravehearts"Itz So Hard"2FiveThe Watcher2009"Girl"CormegaBorn and Raised co-prod. by Cormega2010"Trapped in the Hood"Jay RockBlack Fridayprod. w/ Wyldfyer2015"Your Loss"Busta Rhymes, Mary J. BligeThe Return of the Dragon (The Abstract Went on Vacation)prod. w/ Chucky Thompson2016"Kane & Abel"FreewayFree Willprod. w/ Chemist