Grammy Award nominated producer/singer/instrumentalist/entrepreneur Ryan Leslie is the epitome of talent.
Working with everyone from Mr. Hudson to R&B singer Ne-Yo, Ryan has been there, done that, and now he’s cooking up more bangers in the lab with Wu-Tang’s Raekwon The Chef.
GlobalGrind sat down with Ryan to find out who else is on his collaborative master plan.
Check out the exclusive interview below!
GlobalGrind: Musically so far, you have collaborated with Mr. Hudson, along with so many other rappers.
Ryan Leslie: Yes.
Do you have plans on collaborating with anyone else in the future?
Yes. I actually have a record with Raekwon. I think that it’s about credibility for me now, so when I say I’m doing a rap album now, people automatically say: ‘Oh, well what is a Grammy nominated artist changing his stripes for?’ I’m interested in challenging what people expect of an artist, and I hope that this project will inspire consumers to expect more from their favorite artists. Mr. Hudson, Raekwon and I just got off the phone with Prodigy from Mobb Deep.
We talk about rap legends – Mobb Deep, The Chef. I did some work on Ne-Yo’s album. Once our schedules connect – I think I read a tweet that he’s back in New York – so once our schedules connect there’s a potential collaboration there. I’m open to collaborating with anyone whom I’ve ever collaborated with in the past on the production side.
Which is everybody.
Yeah, somewhat. I’ve never been in the studio with Rihanna or even though I did several studio sessions with Jay & ‘Ye, nothing was ever released per se to say that there was an official collaboration. I know that there’s a record that’s coming, that I did that wasn’t on this last release. Alicia Keys. I would love to have Alicia keys on one of the records. I already have it picked out. And then there are other artists like Lana Del Rey – she just came out. There’s a sound, there’s an energy, there’s a vibe that I’m really responding to. I reached out to her on Twitter. Sometimes you get a response, sometimes not.
