Ryan Leslie Interview

Ryan Leslie may not quite be a household name -- yet. But that's definitely not for lack of effort.
Mr. Leslie is the type of person who epitomizes the term "over-achieving multi-tasker." Not only is he a music producer, having crafted songs for Beyonce, Britney Spears and New Edition, among others, but he also is a songwriter and a recording artist himself.

Burgeoning Music Mogul

And if all that weren't enough, he also heads his own global marketing and media company, NextSelection Lifestyle Group and already has an up-and-coming, rising young performer under his wing, a singer by the name of Cassie.
The burgeoning music mogul says he doesn't feel burdened however, by wearing so many hats -- artist, performer, songwriter, producer, etc.

Filling Numerous Roles

"I think that they go hand-in-hand," he said of the various roles he fills. "I would not be complete if I didn't do all of them. I've always been a multi-tasker."
In his quest for mogul-dom, one thing that's been a tremendous help to Leslie and his company has been the Internet, specifically MySpace.com. Upon discovering the young singer Cassie and securing a demo deal with Tommy Mottola, Leslie created Cassie's MySpace page to showcase her music, and within just three weeks, she was a top 10 MySpace artist. Right around this time, terrestrial radio stations began receiving requests for her hit single "Me & You."

Bidding War

This popularity sparked a bidding war between major record labels, and eventually led to Cassie signing with Bad Boy Entertainment, through Leslie's Next Selection imprint. Her debut album, originally scheduled for release in January 2007, was pushed up five months to August of '06.
Leslie says he discovered Cassie out and about in New York.
"I had just come off doing a lot of work with Usher and I was inspired," he explains. "I happened to be at a New York hot spot and saw her with her girlfriends. They knew all the words to every hot record that's out."
Leslie says that he then struck up a conversation and got to know her before eventually managing to coax the singer into working with him.

Internet Promotion

Later came the MySpace promotion, which Leslie gives a lot of the credit for to one of his friends/business partners.
"A lot of the credit goes to Rasheed Richmond," Leslie said of Next Selection's online marketing partner. "He actually told me about MySpace, and he did a lot of the promotional work."
And the MySpace revolution isn't the only Internet project that Leslie's taken part in.
On his company's website, he posts an interactive daily video blog, in existence since January, where he gives viewers a taste of what daily life is like in the music business. Industry parties, TV appearances, hanging out with beautiful women -- it's there for all to see.
"Blogging is something that allows us to document life," Leslie said. "When you look at a lot of successful films, books, a lot of them relate to the experiences of others," and the video blog is a way for him to connect with the masses. "There have been other video blogs, but this one's a first of its kind from a music standpoint," he said.
It's a huge commitment," he said of the video blog. "It takes six, seven hours a day to produce a video blog."
But he's not done yet -- far from it.

Future Goals

"My next goal is to turn the music industry on it's head," he said. "I'm looking forward to creating a new paradigm. I'm looking to change the way artists get paid -- and it has nothing to do with retail CDs in stores. And this is far from what Prince has done," he said, referring to the online music store, npgmusicclub.com, that Prince opened in 2004.
Exactly what "this" is, however; Leslie won't say. All he does is promise that he'll reveal more details once the project is closer to fruition.

The Future of the Industry

When asked for predictions about the future of the music industry, however, he inadvertently teases what he and his collaborators may be working on. He says that due to the digital music revolution of the past few years, physical compact discs of music will eventually become go the way of the eight-track tape and become obsolete.
"In five or 10 years, we won't need CDs at all," he said.
In addition all the other things he's good at, Leslie was something of an over-achiever scholastically, as well. In 1998, at the still-tender age of 19, he graduated from Harvard University -- yes, that Harvard -- with a degree in government, and concentrations in macro-economics and political science. He was also the Orator for the graduating class, and encouraged his classmates to follow their dreams.
"I come from very humble beginnings," he said. "It's all about doing something that inspires people.

Humble Beginnings

Leslie grew up a Salvation Army brat and lived in cities all across the US -- Atlanta, Nashville and San Francisco, among others -- and even spent time in Belgium. However, he's settled in, for at least for the immediate future, in the Harlem area of New York.
"I chose to live in Harlem because I'm trying to bring a musical renaissance back to Harlem. I literally am," he said, displaying the bravado and confidence that's brought him so far this early in life.

His Own Music

As for his own recording career Leslie, who's affectionately referred to as R-Les by his fans, says that he's "always working on an album of my own. Just doing everything organically." Meaning, he's taking his time and allowing things to come together naturally, rather than rush the project. A few songs can be heard on his MySpace page. One features the rapper Fabolous and another track, "Just Right," featuring Snoop Dogg, will soon be streamed right here on About.com's R&B site.

Undiscovered, Unheralded Talent

Even though he's worked with the likes of Beyonce, Britney Spears, Donell Jones, and many more, Leslie says he's more excited about all the new, undiscovered talent out there.
"Every artist (he's so far worked with) has brought something new to the table. I respect all the current stars. But the one I'm most excited about is Cassie."
Who has he been most impressed by?
"Some of the most interesting people I've had a chance to meet are actually outside the music industry. People who are real go-getters."

Diverse Musical Tastes

His production talents have blessed artists of various musical genres, including pop, R&B, dancehall and even gospel. And while in college he even sang four-part harmony with a jazz group.
So, as you might expect, when asked about what type of music he prefers -- either personally or professionally -- Leslie said he's open-minded. "I don't have a genre-specific favorite. I like music that inspires, and inspires me. I like pop, because it's popular he said. But a number of things fall under pop, whether it's Maroon 5, whether it's Britney Spears, or whether it's Cassie."
-Mark Edward Nero