My way

Photograph by Ben Ritter. Special thanks to Twelve 21, twelve21nyc.com

As a freelance producer, Ryan Leslie’s credits include Beyoncé, Britney Spears and his own discovery/muse, Cassie. He parties with Diddy, dates supermodels and is rarely seen wearing anything other than a custom-made European suit. Yet for Leslie—who has been creating his own recordings since age 11 and who enrolled in Harvard at 15—the real goal is solo success.

In September, Universal will release the 29-year-old Harlem resident’s eponymous album through a joint venture with his own NextSelection imprint—evidence that the R&B auteur has determined that with the music industry’s traditional promotion models crumbling, it’s his own self-reliance, not major-label backing, that will finally put him on the verge of a breakthrough.

Leslie's secrets to success:

“I’ve been taught from a very young age that once your passion is your profession, that’s success in and of itself. I feel I’ve definitely achieved that.”

“Let’s say my album comes out and sells two copies, and then I said, ‘Look, Usher, my record didn’t really sell, but I got this track I didn’t use on the album, it’s for you, you can take it.’ He goes on to sell 10 million and it’s a life-changing, culture-changing song. I know for a fact that I would take the revenues generated from that massive hit and reinvest them in another album. That’s Ryan Leslie.”

“I have something to say. If I can say it through other people, that’s cool, but that’s not me saying it.”

“With the advent of online video, I immediately jumped on there and learned how to film myself, edit myself, and upload it and create some sort of social network around it. Initially I did that just because I was struggling with the fact that I had made an album with Universal [Just Right, in 2005] and it didn’t come out. I said, ‘I know my stuff is good; let me start to expose it through this distribution channel if I can’t get the traditional distribution channel.’”

Exclusive!
Listen to an advance track, "I.R.I.N.A."

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