Ryan Leslie Interview!!!

Hello Blushn' Readers!!! As promised, here is the interview with Ryan Leslie...(the one man show) that I conducted for the very fabulous, All That's Fab in NYC.
www.allthatsfab.com



Jessica: Hey Ryan how are you? (real deep and mysterious like, he responds)

RL: Doing well, and you?

Jessica: Great. So, the Big Buzz is that you are releasing your second album.

RL: Yeah...we are actually looking at a late August street date.

Jessica: Excited?

RL: Yeah...

Jessica: What's your favorite track?

RL: Um, favorite record on the album? There are so many so many. You know what, each one of those tracks came from me, they are like my children...you cant pick a fav child, you know? I think I like them all and I like them all the same for different reasons.

Jessica: Ok. Well, what should we expect to hear from this album?

RL: The album is actually self titled and I did so because the artists that always inspired me have always been the type like a Stevie Wonder or Prince who were self contained. They were the writers, producers, the songwriters, performers everything ...for me this album represents my version of an artistic expression in that vain. I am the writer producer, arranger, performer, and I recorded all the records myself. (hence, the one man show people)

Jessica: Great...sounds like a lot of hard work was put into this. Now let's move on to Diamond Girl, one of my favorite tracks, composed by you...what was your inspiration?

RL: What was my inspriration?

Jessica: Yeah, was their a special lady??? Whats the story behind the song?

RL: Yeah of course their was a special lady. We all live sort of through a human experience and relationships and love from the time that we are born it just a notion of a concept of love and how to treat each other and our families are our base for that. For me I struggle with my career and there was a lady, no well, there have been a few ladies that have tried to stick it out with me...but my music and my career are very jealous so to speak or maybe thats just life for being self absorbed and distracted from the world when it comes to writing and creating art the way I do. But um, I found someone that I developed a relationship with, a yound lady who I really believed was something special and we ran to the same cross roads...and I lost her. I wanted to write somethig that would show that I could treat her right, something like a slow jam, more sad, more emotional and I couldn't come up with anything and I dont like to force anything in the studio. I ran my hand over the keyboard, from a low key all the way to a higher one and came up with this "tararara"... its called a cresendo, and that was the musical element, that was all I needed from a musical standpoint to inspire me to write a more upbeat anthem for the lady that I believed was right for me.

Jessica: Great story! Who's featured on your album?

RL: The concept of the album was to be self contained, and I was going to put out the album with no features at all and it just so happens that just a couple of weeks ago, we were playing with some ideas in the studio and we came up with "Addiction". That represents the only feature on my album and I figured if we are going to do features we are going to go all the way with it. Thats when I called my good friend and collaborator Fabolous. I played the record for him in the studio and he responded to it really positively, he went in and did his thing and now thats the only track to have a feature... and it has a double feature, featuring Cassie and Fabolous.

Jessica: Heard the song, and I love it. Prior to these two songs (Diamond Girl and Addiction), I never heard of Ryan Leslie...did some research I learned that you have been in the game for a really long time as a Producer, you go back...you've produced stuff for New Edition.

RL: Yeah, I moved to NY and that was when my production started taking off and I had to choose between the two, I had my record deal and got the opportunity to do both at the same time. I took the producer route for a couple of different reasons, one, because it allowed me to basically make money and learn the music industry and number two it gave me the opportunity to put my music out there with other acts and gain a response... and the response so far has been great, the biggest record of my career so far was, Me & You that Cassie recorded.

Jessica: That was a BIG hit! How does it feel to be the artist as opposed to the Producer?

RL: I always get asked that question and my response is always the same, and that is that I have always been the Artist. I took a production deal initially because I didn't have the resources get studio time, as a Producer you get more studio time. That was when I began producing...I was producing records for myself and it just so happens that you know... the records that I was making, artists that were responding to that music and were excited about it and like I said that gave me the opportunity to one, make some money and two learn from those artists that I was working with and three, get my music into the market place. That helped a new artist break into the landscape of the music industry.

Jessica: All That's Fab is featured in NY, tell our readers what you like to when you are in the big city.

RL: What do i like to do? well, I kind of have a soft spot for making independent films. There are a couple of things I do on my spare time, I dont have much free time...but I like to give back and I have an internship program, its pretty vigorous. I hand pick young people from around the world to work on various creative projects. Aside from that back to the filsm, what I like about independent films is that you get to really see the city and use the city as an actor just because it has so much character, from the South Street Seaport to Battery Park, Soho to the Village all the way up to Harlem where I currently reside. NY just has so many characters, there are so many stories that have been told here. The mecca for pop culture, so many things that have been born from the NY hustler mentality. I love NY. From having a meal downtown at an Italian restuaurant, looking for a property uptown or you know... Harlem... or any of the other other developing areas of the city. I have always been inspired by the creativity in New York City, there are so many different levels of it. Just driving in the city listening to my records with the windows down on the West Side highway or going for a run with my trainer...all of those things paint a great picture of a NYC, a bubbling metropolis with a setting for hustlers. I consider myself a hustler.

Jessica: What are the names of some of your films? Have you completed any?

RL: I am actually releasing a film on youtube, I have a channel on youtube it has 14 million viewers. I shot an eleven minute piece and its loosely based on the concept of "Diamond Girl". Not the concept that I described initally but more of a theatrical concept where I play myself, a Producer that got recruited into a dark secret service mission to retrieve a diamond from a russian superstar, and NY provides an incredible backdrop for this story, with the help of some very talented friends. A Director that I flew in from France. We put together this film and we will be premiering it on my youtube channel in the next, probably 10-14 days. Check it out: www.youtube.com/ryanleslietv

Jessica: Ryan, thanks for the interview, before we end is there anything you would like to tell our readers?

RL: I think we touched on everyting...First, I would like to thank you for featuring me. I hope that I continue to, as an artist, to provide and create material that is trustworthy and from an artistic standpoint.

Tell us what you think.