MMIM had the opportunity to chat briefly with Ryan Leslie last week while he was in D.C for the Lexus Listening Lounge event. Check out our interview below with the talented singer, songwriter, and producer has he discusses his upcoming album, in addition to how it felt to be recognized as BET Rising Icon.

MMIM: You have a new album coming out entitled Transition. Can you tell the readers at My Mood is Music what we can expect on this album? Will it be a different sound from your first album?

Ryan Leslie: Well I try to be consistent with my music. I don’t really like to be a hype man. For example there have been so many times. I was at lunch today and someone told me about a drink they had and that it was the most incredible drink in the world. They always sets you up for disappoint. In this case I would like to say that I poured my heart out on these records and as a human being its my hope that people will relate to some of the topics that I cover. Just really the experiences of a summer that I had in the throws of a secret love.

MMIM: You are very internet savvy from You Tube and a phenomenal website. Can you telll us why you feel that its important for artists to have a presence on the web in regards to interacting with their fans?

Ryan Leslie: I think that the internet provides a distribution channel that you can control . If you have content that you can’t get on television, local cable, or even radio you can get it on You Tube and it doesn’t cost you anything. If you are someone that has an art that you want to distribute I encourage you to use You Tube as a distribution channel to share your art with the world.

MMIM: You were recently honored by BET and given the title of a Rising Icon. Can you tell us how it felt to be recognized and what’s next for Ryan Leslie?

Ryan Leslie: When given a title there comes a lot of responsibility. When someone refers to you as a rising icon I. Quickly think of the musicians that I consider icons such as. Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Jimi. Hendrix, Michael Jackson. The list can go on and on. For me to live up to the contribution artistically that those artists have made is a huge responsibility. I am very appreciative and grateful to BET for recognizing what I’m contributing and I am going to do everything that I can to live up to the title of an icon.

My Mood Is Music.com

Written at 13 Oct 2009 by sadia in Ryan Leslie

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By Rap-Up.com:

It’s no secret that Ryan Leslie’s a great catch. A Harvard graduate, singer, songwriter, composer, and sometimes rapper, he’s quite mature, poised, articulate, and not to mention, a sharp dresser. So why does he spend his entire sophomore album trying to “make it official” with a certain someone who just won’t budge?

Transition, due November 3, follows the antics, ideas, and development of Leslie finding inspiration in the women that he meets and courts. He shared the meaning behind his album with a select group of journalists at Chung King Studios in New York City. In a studio seating less than 30, R-Les gave an in-depth look at the makings of the 11-song effort. The presentation also included videos, which showcased the R&B talent’s production behind-the-scenes, as well as him rapping as a 14-year-old.

The follow-up to last year’s self-titled debut is not an unrequited love story. This is the story of a man longing for the girl who’s in a relationship, the girl with trust issues, the girl he just can’t be with. Follow Ryan Leslie as he embarks on his relentless journey to find “the one.”

1. “Never Gonna Break Up”

Mama always said beware of a girl that listens to Feist—she’ll turn your songwriting upside down. A quite eclectic spirit gave Leslie the juice he needed to make this track come to life. The melody for this song summons a ’70s vibe and a fusion of flavors. Crooning falsetto while trashing her house and playing on a burning piano, he sings about how he went all out for this girl. “So I get the finest clothes I could find on retail/ And I try to pay attention to every single detail,” a very naïve Leslie explains before finding out the chick he was with already has a man. He leaves with the lost hope that she will only yearn for him.

2. “Something That I Like” featuring Pusha T

Leslie’s muse for this song was a lady he met at his S.O.B.’s show in NYC earlier this year. She just so happened to raise in him a new melody, a melody he couldn’t shake. After seeing a girl while driving, he wonders if she’s the one, even to the point where he questions his flyness. After deciding he doesn’t want to “spoil” her, he leaves her be. Leslie wanted to choose someone he respected to rap on this mid-tempo, synthesized track. The winning bid went to Pusha T of the Clipse, who further delves into how fly his chick is: “Fly as she wanna be/ Never been a wannabe/ Jealous homies hating ’cause she everything they wanna be.”

3. “Zodiac”

After meeting and having dinner with an actress that is in tune with others’ Zodiac signs and Mercury retrograde (things Leslie admits he’s lacking in understanding), he got the inspiration to write this track where he asks, “What’s your Zodiac sign?/ Are we compatible baby?/ If it matches mine, we should think about dating.” This song sounds like a live band coming through the speakers with a significant bass factor. A more extensive rap can be found here, with him bragging confidently, “I’ll give you everything on your checklist.” Machismo at its finest.

4. “Is It Real Love”

Rhythm guitar and bass blast through this track, where R-Les describes the story of a girl who says she met him once before. But she reveals that upon their first encounter, he snubbed her. “You may be the one I’m waiting on,” he suggests, but does not promise. Originally recorded with a pedal steel guitar, the song had a sort of pop-country feel, but the rhythm and strings kicked the R&B flavor up a notch.

5. “Sunday Night”

While working in the studio with Drake, Leslie got a text to go out to dinner with a girl, but tried to pull it off without making a reservation. After failing to get a table and ending up at the bar, they decided to make it a night in. “Thinking about leaving the lights on,” he sings about their chill Sunday night, watching a DVD and ordering takeout. Leslie wins his girl’s heart by surprising her with 1,000 flowers the next day.

6. “You’re Not My Girl”

The first single off Transition was written in retort to the response he got when playing track #8 “Nothing” to his female counterpart. In short, she said she would like him if she wasn’t snagged by another suitor. “Indiscretion makes this love affair sweet/ Without the secrets it would feel so incomplete/ So we should keep our quiet nights between us/ So we retain our urgency when we touch,” he sings before letting the unnamed female know not to catch feelings because she’s not his girl. Ouch. One can sense a little Michael Jackson in the production of this track, which is reminiscent of “Rock With You.”

7. “To the Top”

“And when we get there I promise you’ll never want to come down, making love on my cloud,” Leslie vehemently sings. The lyrics would initially suggest a celestial sound, yet the production is reminiscent of early ’90s West Coast rap, making it perfect for cruising with the top down in clement weather.

8. “Nothing”

Out of this slow, funky, guitar-laden track slips those vulnerable words: “Without you, I’ll be nothing” in an almost reggae/ska type of beat. “I’m just a wayward son of a preacher/ You are a queen that’s how I should treat ya/ Lessons in love, you are my teacher” shows Leslie’s songwriting capabilities. His flow is so concrete, one has to wonder, “Why couldn’t I think of that?” There’s also a 16-bar rap on the track (and for those who are wondering, he’s been rapping since he was a teenager).

9. “Guardian Angel”

He finally takes a step back and looks at the bigger picture as to why he met this belle and what role she plays in his life. Maybe she was there for just a season, to transition him to his next girlfriend, and maybe he was there to transition her from her ex to her next. In any case, maybe they were supposed to be in each other’s lives to look after one another during that time. The simple melody, based on four chords, makes the song beautiful, as does the concept.

10. “All My Love”

This is an ode to every man that wants to get a woman between the sheets. Leslie’s girl complained that her ex cheated and she had trust issues, so he played this song for her. “I wanna take your love and mix it with mine/ And maybe we can have a cocoa baby,” he boldly sings. Stepping out on a limb, he sweetly but truly proclaims, “I wanna give you all my love/ Even if I don’t have all your trust.” Selfless maybe, until it turns shameless when he purposely uses recorded applause as encouragement for her to “turn the lights down.” Yet after the piano solo at the end, he coyly refrains from giving away if he succeeded.

11. “I Choose You”

Leslie chooses this girl over all the others, a fitting conclusion to the album. With a staggered beat, he sings, “Over the others/ Over my pride because you’re the best thing in my life/ I choose you.” In a disappointing finale to what otherwise would’ve been a fairy tale, he doesn’t get the girl, but learns a valuable lesson. He never actually said “I love you,” anyway.

Written at 09 Oct 2009 by Denise in Ryan Leslie

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R. Les chats with VIBE about the Ryan Leslie brand, his new album Transitions and being a rapper before singer.



By Vibe.com

Written at 09 Oct 2009 by Denise in Videos

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Written at 08 Oct 2009 by Denise in Videos

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By HipHopDX.com:

Upon walking into New York's legendary Chung King Studios this evening, the visual of Ryan Leslie bopping in front of a keyboard proves he means business.

The singer/songwriter/producer invited a select few to an intimate revealing of his second studio album Transition - a work, that according to Leslie, was a labor of love over a certain lady. Leslie took his audience through an audio and video history of the album's making, beginning with his rap "I'm So Glad We're Friends" from his barely teenage years entering Harvard University as a young prodigy.

Leslie then explained key bits on Transition, starting with his initial meeting with his mystery woman during a rehearsal for his showcase at New York's SOB's earlier this year. Upon meeting her, he says, a melody came into his head that he couldn't shake. That melody later became one of the album's key tracks "Something That I Like." In an effort to woo her, Leslie became absorbed in her varied musical tastes, leading to his creating the guitar heavy "Without You I'd Be Nothing." "We had a small challenge," he explained. "She had a boyfriend."

Each song on Transition was indicative of his recent history in love with her. So did he get the girl after filling her home with wall to wall roses and making an album in her honor? You'll have to buy the album to find out.

Written at 08 Oct 2009 by Denise in Ryan Leslie

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By ShowingOut.com:

It’s been less than a year since Ryan Leslie dropped his eponymous official debut, but that’s not going to stop him from keeping the ball rolling on his solo career. Recently dubbed a “Rising Icon” by BET, the singer-songwriter is back on the scene with the forthcoming Transition, an album that, again, focuses almost entirely on Leslie (with the exception of a cameo from Clipse’s Pusha T on “Something That I Like”). Inspired by a tale of courtship, Leslie put his pen to the pad and crafted an electro-brushed R&B record that takes the listener on his journey of wooing this mysterious gal.

In anticipation of the album’s November 3rd release date, Ryan Leslie held an advance listening session earlier this evening for Transition at Chung King Studios in New York City, taking a moment before each song to explain the process and intention behind it. Unlike most album listening sessions where the artist simply shows his face and says his hellos while the album plays, Leslie ran through cuts off the album with introductions that varied between clips from his childhood showing his 14-year-old self rapping at a rotary speech competition and portions from the album’s bonus DVD that showed Leslie in the studio with Drake and Fabolous, rocking it on stage overseas and even a few unreleased videos for tracks off the album. Hit the jump to read our exclusive album preview of Ryan Leslie’s Transition.


“Never Gonna Break Up”

Leslie explained that he was at a rehearsal for a show at S.O.B.’s in downtown NYC, showing a clip with him and a string quartet practicing a few cuts off of Ryan Leslie. But when a friend walked in and told him he brought a girl that he simply had to meet, Leslie knew that he was about to go through a transition in his life because of this mystery woman. The event inspired Leslie to head into the studio and lay down “Never Gonna Break Up,” which, after he recorded, he called a video director to come to the studio to get busy working on a treatment. Leslie then played the crowd the video, which sees Leslie bumping into a dude on a staircase and asking for a light, only for the other guy to inform Leslie that his girl gave him the same collector’s edition lighter. Dismayed and hurt, Leslie took to his girl’s apartment with the lighter, dropping it on a pile of her clothes as he sang, “Hoping that your loneliness burn for me.” The clip ended with Leslie playing a piano that had been set on fire on the top of a building overlooking Manhattan. Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it?

“Nothing”

Though this song doesn’t come next on the tracklisting, Leslie explained that this one was next in the courtship of his girl, showing the room a video of him in the studio playing with a classic ’70s electric guitar distorter. Leslie explained that the song had come from the girl introducing him to music by Tom Vek, Feist and a cut by Charles Manson, going on play the reggae-tinged jam that rocked with a funky bounce and a nice guitar solo.

“You’re Not My Girl”

Leslie then turned to his keyboard setup and played a stripped-down snippet of the single, explaining that after having played the song overseas with the backing of a live band, he got session musicians to come in and lay down some instrumentation for the track. He went on to state that Transition isn’t just an album filled with songs that he pared down from a handful of tracks, and that every joint on the album was intended to end up on the final cut.

“Zodiac”

This one was introduced with a story about Leslie going on a date with a young actress and having a fascinating discussion about if they’d be compatible based on whether “mercury was in retrograde” or not. The resulting cut is one of the few songs on Transition to be mostly stooped in rap, and Leslie played it for the room by rolling the black-and-white video for the song that shows him in a black vest, chain and v-neck white tee, rapping to the camera. He then explained that “the reason that I get my messages across is my raps,” which he stated after he showed a segment that aired on television of him rapping as a young kid.

“Something That I Like” (Feat. Pusha T)

This joint knocked hard, with a clicking, thwacking beat that enticed Leslie to hop on the keys as it played in the studio. Leslie stated that he’d always been the one singing on other rappers’ songs, and that he felt it was time to have a rapper spit a verse on one of his tracks. Since he was working with Pusha T, he sent off this one to him and the rest was history.

“Is It Real Love”

After trying to court this female for a little bit (he staged a few “Oh, you’re going to be in L.A.? So will I! What a small world” type of situations), Leslie kept pressing the girl to explain why she was being hesitant. She sassed that she’d met him before, and that he gave her the cold shoulder because he was with some other chick. This song was inspired by that situation, with lyrics like, “Where did you come from / Where have you been all my life?” over a sweaty rhythm guitar.

“Makin’ Love” Note by Denise: He means "All My Love"

The chanteur took to the keyboard again to introduce this joint, which boasts the coaxing lyrics, “Wanna give you all my love / Even if I don’t have all your trust.” To truly win her over, Leslie said that he recorded a lot of handclaps to give her some “encouragement” to give up the goods. But he ended the performance by admitting that “she still didn’t believe me.” Yikes.

“To The Top”

Leslie introduced this one by saying that the girl told him she’d be heading to Amsterdam, to which he replied that he’d be coincidentally going, too! Slick move. He described this one as “thick and syrupy,” which pretty much nailed the feel of this gushy jam. And if this one didn’t make it clear to you, he really wanted to bed this girl - badly.

“Sunday Night”

Courting her was finally starting to play in his favor, and he said that he’d take her out for a nice dinner to celebrate the consummation of their relationship. While in the studio with Drake, he got a text from the girl asking when they’d be heading to the Mandarin Oriental restaurant, which overlooks Central Park (he showed a clip of him reading the text with Drizzy in the background). Of course, he had no reservation, so they showed up to the restaurant and were forced to sit at the bar. After she asked Leslie to fetch a piece of bread and he couldn’t deliver, she figured out his game and suggested that they head back to her place to watch a DVD and order in some food. The next day, he surprised her by filling her living room with hundreds of flowers, a romantic move that finally got him the girl. The resulting song boasted billowing synths and chalky rim shots - a true groove.

“Guardian Angel”

Following his summer courtship, the gal still wouldn’t take the bait and didn’t want to “take the relationship public,” leaving Leslie dejected and broken. But he still felt positive about their friendship, penning a song that described how “she’s in my life to watch over me during this transitional stage.” “Guardian Angel” is a little darker than the rest of the tracks on the album, but its gloomy verses give way to a bright chorus that lifts the mood on this situation.

“I Choose U”

Transition comes to a close with this joint, which has Leslie showing that he’s still got a feeling for this girl, singing, “Because you’re the best thing in my life, I choose you.” The song features a dramatic Euro-style kick drum hitting on every other beat, with no snare or hi-hat to pick up the pace on this fluid jam. He told the room that the inscription on the back of Transition’s packaging reads “This collection of songs was inspired by a summer of secret love.” And what an inspiring summer it was.

Written at 08 Oct 2009 by Denise in Ryan Leslie

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