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| Photo from http://grandgroovedjs.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/ryan-leslie-youre-not-my-girl-big-jacks-call-me-mix/ |
Ryan
Leslie
A few years ago I was
perusing through a magazine whose name I do not recall. I began reading an article about this up in
coming singer, rapper, producer, songwriter, musician and pretty much
everything else you can think of in music.
The description of this guy made had me thinking I was reading an
article about the Ben Franklin of music.
He does everything, literally. I
became increasingly curious about who this guy was; but more importantly to me,
how his music sounded. At the time I had
never heard of this artists. As it turns
out, I had unknowingly heard music produced by him. In that article, there was something else
that stood out and made him more of a wonder.
This respectfully shocking truth was that he is a graduate of Harvard University. What, really?
This was my reaction after thinking to myself; this guy graduated from
Harvard and is a rapper? If you have
heard any of the rap music that has come out in the last five years, you would
agree that a degree of any kind is hardly a prerequisite for a successful
career as rapper. This superman of music
is Ryan Leslie or R-Les as he is sometimes called.
Early
Life
That article, that
I have been unable to reproduce or locate, introduced me to who is now one of
my favorite musical artist and most admired entrepreneurs. Ryan Leslie was born in Washington D.C. in
1978. Leslie moved around lot as a child
because of his parents’ employment with the Salvation Army. After his sophomore year in high school he
basically got tired of moving and began to set his sights on college, more
specifically Ivy league institutions.
This 14-year-old kid first, scored a 1600, a perfect score on his
SATs. Then, he wrote letters to the like
of schools such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford and others; soliciting entry in to
their institutions. At the age of 15,
Ryan Leslie is a freshman at Harvard University. How many fourteen year old kids do you know
who would effectively just be quite simply tired of changing high schools so
they decide to just go to Harvard instead?
… My point exactly! Ryan Leslie,
even at an early age was that type of visionary.
Early
Career
So, if his
background is not amazing enough, his path to musical notoriety is even more
spectacular. In short, as a musician and
producer he launched the career of unknown artist Cassie. It is reported that Leslie, in the living
room of his apartment in Harlem, recorded and produced Cassie’s first
album. Single “Me & You” reached as
high as No. 3 on Billboard’s singles chart.
The success of that song was virtually unprecedented and certainly
unexpected. The success shocked the
music industry and Ryan Leslie began to catch the eye of big names in the
industry. His ability to do it all with
little to no corporate backing; with the exception of a distribution deal that
came later, is incredible. This type of self-production
and promotion is what in my opinion truly makes Ryan Leslie unique and a
TRANSCENDENT artist.
Self-Promotion
Immediately after
I read that article about Ryan Leslie, I went to the Internet and discovered a
plethora of YouTube videos of Mr. Leslie.
There was something different about these videos though. They were not just audio recording of his
music or highly produced music videos.
These videos were what looked like home produced visual depictions of Ryan Leslie composing, writing, and recording his music. These videos feature him playing the piano,
synthesizers, drums, singing and doing other things to contribute to the
production his music. Earlier I talked
about how Ryan Leslie did it all. After
watching a few of those videos, that belief was solidified. Ryan Leslie has mastered self-promotion by
using platforms such as MySpace,
Twitter, and my personal
favorite his YouTube Channel. There are countless videos of Ryan Leslie
exercising his creative process in creating songs. Anyone who watches these videos will feel
compelled to respect the genus, that is Ryan Leslie.
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| Image from http://www.ryanleslie.com/ |
Discography
After entering the
music industry as a producer and songwriter, in 2003 he recorded his first
solo album, Just Right. That album was not released because of issues
with him and his record label. Despite
that setback in 2009 he recorded Ryan
Leslie, his self titled debut nationally distributed album. Then, about two years or so ago, he released
his second album, Transition. This fall Leslie plans to roll out with his third album, Les is More. The YouTube videos promoting singles for this
album have been generating a lot of views for a while now.
One-Man
Band
It is so amazing
for any fan or lover of musicianship to have the access that Ryan Leslie
provides to his fans. The way that he
creates and produces his music is unlike anyone else, to my knowledge at least.
Leslie’s rare ability to be the one-man band behind virtually all of his music
is his niche. The way that he exploits
and promotes those skills is what is so fascinating to me. This is what makes it so exciting to watch
his YouTube videos. You can see him
playing the keyboards, you can watch him pick up a horn and record it, you can
see him recording the vocals and making other contributions to the
productions.
Next
Selection
In addition to
being an incredible singer, songwriter, rapper, producer, musician etc., he is
also an entrepreneur. Ryan Leslie is the
founder and CEO of a company called Next Selection. “We
envision, develop & execute the experiences, products, platforms, and
content that help brands build engaged conversations with consumers.” That quote is what they have posted on their
website to describe what they do. Even
though they have clients that expand across all industries, Ryan Leslie’s
self-promoting ways on YouTube and other mediums is the best example of the
type of marketing that Next Selection provides.
Next Selection Music Group is also Ryan Leslie’s recording label.
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| Photo from http://mproco.com/blog/2009/08/youre-not-my-girl-ryan-leslie/ |
Unfortunately, I did
not speak too much of the exceptional music that Ryan Leslie creates. My reasoning is that I really wanted to
highlight his background and approach to personal branding. Take a few minutes to view a few of his
videos on his YouTube channel called RyanLeslieTV. You’ll be amazed at what see and realize why
the Transcendent Music Movement acknowledges Ryan Leslie as a Transcendent
artist whose creations epitomize TRANSCENDENT MUSIC.
