Ryan Leslie – Transition (2009) [Universal Motown] // Grade: B+

Futuristic R&B crooner, rapper and producer Ryan Leslie stays true to his ambitious persona with the release of his sophomore effort, Transition, the same year as his self-titled debut. There’s not much Leslie doesn’t have going for him. The star-in-the-making almost exclusively dates models, graduated from Harvard at 19 after scoring a perfect on his SATs at age 15 and was nominated this year for both BET and Soul Train awards. Leslie is clearly setting his own bar sky high for future success and while neither of his 2009 releases are perfect, they show an incredible amount of promise.

I’m normally turned off by artists who release multiple full albums in the same year. It takes a lot of work to make a record and inevitably one or all of the products generally suffer under the gun of a rushed timeline. But Leslie puts forth a genuine effort at circumventing this rule, producing two albums this year that are largely comparable in quality. Transition, Leslie’s newest effort, extends the sound of his debut, turning up the funk and production values. Culling vocal reference from Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake and Cody Chesnutt, Leslie’s retro R&B boudoir vocals are dead sexy and syrupy sweet.

Electronic future funk in the vein of The Neptunes characterizes Leslie’s production style throughout both his debut and Transition. Transition leans even further towards Chad Hugo’s tendencies with “You’re Not My Girl”, “Sunday Night” and two of the three bonus tracks on the deluxe version of the album sounding closer to imitations of Neptunes beats than unique material. But Transition at large is not a Neptunes’ ripoff. Opener “Never Gonna Break Up”, soul jam “Zodiac” and standout “To The Top” are all highly original compositions. Leslie walks the fine line between emulation and mimicry, but considering that the quality of the Neptunes’ product has withered the past couple years, it doesn’t really bother me that someone else is stepping up to the plate to pick up where Chad and Pharrell trailed off.

Both of Ryan Leslie’s 2009 efforts are exciting, soulful listens, full of personality and potential. But Leslie’s tendency to hide in the shadow of his predecessors begs the question, just how innovative could his material have been if he had focused his effort on a single release?

- Scrooge McFuck