AS A CHILD, LESTER JR. ADOPTED THE MONIKER LES, AND WHEN HE EMBARKED ON A RAP CAREER THE NAME STUCK – SUBSTITUTING $ for S OF COURSE. WITH HOUSTON AND NEW ORLEANS INFLUENCES, HE SOON LINKED UP WITH SLIM THUG’S BOSS HOGG OUTLAWZ. Being raised between New Orleans and Houston, those are two good influences for a Southern rapper to have. Growing up in New Orleans and being able to see Baby and them do it firsthand, it made you feel like, “Hey, I could really do this.” I used to be out here in Houston in the summer and I would go to the Kappa and see Slim [Thug] and Chamillionaire and Paul [Wall] getting money, and they were just from ‘round the way. So to see them coming from the bottom to the top, that just let you know it was possible. I used to do this for fun with my pa’tnas. It was something I was good at so I invested in myself and bought some CD burners and started handing them out. DJ Mr. Rogers heard my mixtapes in the streets; he was Slim’s DJ and worked with the Party Boyz. When I started working with him that’s when I started thinking this could really happen and we started making some progress. The first mixtape I did, Settle 4 Les, he produced all the tracks on there. The last time I put out a mixtape I didn’t even have to look for beats because I already had them. Houston has always had such a specific sound, with the screwed and chopped feel to it. Do you feel like you and some of the new artists are carrying on that tradition or how does the sound compare? A lot of people say my sound is pretty much the same sound as it used to be. I kinda stuck with it. Some people get mad at cats like ASAP Rocky but I feel like, you shouldn’t be mad at them because they’re influenced by the Houston sound. When I came up I was real big into the whole Swishahouse, SUC, Cash Money thing. I’m talking about the old Cash Money when Mannie [Fresh] used to do all their beats; smooth beats, the Big Tymers era. That’s where I got my style from. I think it’s pretty much the same Houston style but it’s a little more organic. It’s not forced. I don’t have a grill in my mouth, I just am who I am. Speaking of grills, it seems like a lot of the topics in the Houston music just got cliche - the grill, the swangaz, sippin’ lean. What are some other topics you speak on? Not to be cliche (laughs), but literally, my favorite rappers growing up were Bun B and Pimp C. Listening to their music you just learn to put your experiences into the music. If you talking about coming down and ridin’ clean and all that, that’s cool for that song, but you’ve gotta have more substance. I’ve got a song on my last tape Beautiful Struggle called “Story 2 Tell.” It’s about a girl catching AIDS, and the second verse is about a guy who used to do crack who got off crack and then got back on it. I was really talking about my uncle. You’ve gotta dig a little deeper, you know? I used to always hear Pimp C say, “If we don’t stop talking about these cars, we’re gonna lose it.” It’s more than just cars, that’s true. You’ve gotta put a little more real life into the music. Actual experiences.
30 // OZONE MAG
LE$
Words by Julia Beverly