Lee Bio (2007)

As people we are categorized every day. Whether it’s in reference to our jobs, looks, or interests, we are constantly being put into little boxes in order to make it easier for the rest of the world to define us. The Square Egg’s multifaceted baritone voiced vocalist Lee has broken out of his box and he hopes that through his first solo effort, Meet Lee, listeners will join him by breaking out of theirs.

Growing up in South Florida Lee was always unique musically and that interest in music led him to DJ, produce and eventually speak his mind over his own work. With some friends he formed The Square Egg, which became a ten piece band, and shortly thereafter the group moved the whole operation to Brooklyn, NY. Something was still missing, though, which is why Lee decided it was time to do something on his own. It was time to introduce the world to every side of who he is. It was time to let listeners Meet Lee.

Meet Lee is, at its essence, a portrait of a man exploring all the aspects of himself – his successes, his disappointments, his thoughts on love, and his views on God. Musically Lee seamlessly glides back and forth from jazzy creations to b-boy influenced rhythms and vocally one can, at times, truly feel a sense of urgency in his tone and delivery. With Meet Lee for the first time in his career Lee has taken control of every aspect of the creation of an album. He wrote and produced the entire effort, including all the live instrumentation. In fact, he almost named the album Naked due to the way he stripped down all the pretenses and simply created a piece of work that he could, in his own words, “listen to in my headphones and be able to look around at others on the Brooklyn-bound A train and smile at them.”

Although he’s still involved with his group Lee notes “there was a lot of social commentary that I wanted to deliver and discuss in ways that I have never completely done with The Square Egg.” There was something else that made the idea of creating a solo effort appealing to Lee, his ideology that as human beings “we wear many hats” and his want to express his own uniqueness. “I wanted to display that I was vulnerable emotionally. I wanted to show anger at things happenings in the world. I wanted to show hope. I wanted to show that I am a family man. I wanted to be all those things, as we all are.”

When listening to Meet Lee as a whole one notices the cohesive nature of the effort. Although the songs can be listened to independently, everything flows perfectly as a complete album and the tracks tell a story in the order they’re in. Lee also made sure to not think about creating something for the clubs or the charts, noting “it was important to me to throw away all notions of having ‘club bangers’ and ‘hit songs.’ What mattered most was writing something that I felt captured who I was and what my entire artist career has been about.”

Make no mistake, when you listen to Meet Lee you really do meet Lee. “This is Lee in full view,” he says of the album, “contradictions and all.” During a time when so many artists are trying to create an image by showing only one side of themselves Lee reminds us all that there’s plenty to be gained by opening up and showing the world who we really are.

One thing’s for sure, once you Meet Lee you’ll be more than happy to have made his acquaintance.