PRODUCERS CORNER

Ryan Leslie

 

 

Master of Beats, Notes and Hype

by:  Cozi Orlen

 

 

Producer, R&B artist, and businessman Ryan Leslie has proven himself an expert at creating and building buzz.  He markets himself and NextSelection Lifestyle Group, his marketing and media company, using the Internet as a promotional medium.  Leslie creates a daily video of behind-the-scenes highlights from his life, in which he often interacts with big names in the music industry, and uploads them to his website, ns4life.com.  He also created RyanLeslieTV, currently the 38th most-subscribed YouTube channel.

In partnership with new media entrepreneur Rasheed Richmond, Leslie also created one of the first highly successful promotional campaigns on MySpace.com, for then-unknown R&B artist Cassie. T he campaign resulted in a major fan following, and when her first cd was released, it debuted at #4 on the U.S. Billboard 200.  Yahoo has since proclaimed her the first "Internet diva".

Leslie proved early on that he had a sharp mind, graduating from Harvard University with a degree in Government and Economics at age 19.  After graduating, he wrote a song for Latif, a young singer, which won a talent contest in Teen People.  Latif was soon offered a contract with Motown Records, and the two recorded a cd. After this partnership ended, Leslie's father bought him equipment for a small home recording studio. Leslie then spent five months bettering himself as a producer.

In Spring 2003, Leslie began an internship with former Bad Boy Records producer Younglord. During this internship, Leslie co-produced a song that would be performed by Beyoncé for the soundtrack to Bad Boys II. This lead to a meeting with P. Ditty, which resulted in a Leslie's signing a production contract with Bad Boy. He immediately began producing songs for major artists like Britney Spears and groups like Danity Kane.

During this time, the famous record exec Tommy Mottola signed Leslie to Universal/Motown Records's Aspen Songs, which Mottola started after stepping down as CEO of Sony Music Entertainment.  Mottola signed him as both a producer and an artist.

Ryan Leslie put out his first project as an artist in 2005, a promo mixtape called The Talented Mr. Leslie. His debut record, Just Right, was set to drop, but the singles ("The Way That U Move Girl" and "Used 2 Be" with Fabolous) weren't performing well, so the album was shelved. In late 2005, Just Right was released in Europe. It has yet to see a U.S. release.

Right around this time, Leslie discovered Cassie, then a young model. He produced a track for her and played it for Mottola, who encouraged them to produce more songs. Leslie and Cassie then began work on her debut record.

In 2006, "Me & U", Cassie's first single off her self-titled record, was released.  Due to a strong Internet marketing campaign, this track became the highest-selling song in Leslie's production career. The single went platinum, and topped the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot 100 Airplay charts.  It also topped charts in several European countries. The popularity of this single led to Cassie's signing with Bad Boy Records before the record had even been released.

Leslie put out another mixtape in 2006, The Official Next Selection Mixtape, and continued to build his own image online.  As this image grew, he began to record his next record. This self-titled album will finally hit stores on October 21st, 2008, after numerous delays. The first single, which was on the airwaves in '07, is "Diamond Girl".  The second single is "Addiction", featuring Cassie and Fabolous.

Ryan Leslie has shown himself to be a hard-working, intelligent professional with creative ideas in music production and marketing. At the rate he's going, it's safe to say that, like former mentor P. Ditty, Leslie will become one of the hottest producer/artist/businessmen in the music industry.