Above is an interview with The Centre Magazine that Ryan did where he talks about the freedom he enjoys being Independent and not being held up with a major label.
Below are a few quotes from his interview with The Fader. He discusses rapping on Les Is More, supergroup with Fabolous & Ne-Yo and more. Album in stores July 4th.
Rapping isn’t totally something new for you, right?
If you look at “Diamond Girl” which was my first single officially, I had a 15-bar rap verse on it, my own feature. I featured myself. It’s something I’ve been doing. If you look at the Ryan Leslie album, “Baby You’re Fly” opens with a rap, “Diamond Girl” got a rap on it, I did an “I-R-I-N-A” remix with two eight-bar rap verses. On the second album, “Zodiac” got a 16 on it, “Something That I Like” featuring Pusha T got two 16s on it. More recently Christian Dior Denim Flow is me, Kanye, Pusha T, [Lloyd] Banks, Cudi all rapping… If I say I’m going to do a rap album, best believe I’m making sure I’m getting it co-signed. I play my records for Kanye West or I play my records for 50 Cent when I go to the G-Unit offices. Line-for-line they give me feedback and let me know that I can get a pass for what I’m talking about.
There were rumors about a supergroup with Ne-Yo and Fabolous. Is it still happening? Was it ever happening?
We have a great chemistry. I just did a week in the studio with Ne-Yo for his new album that’s coming out in September. While we were doing that, in the span of a week I did four records with Ne-Yo, I did a You Be Killin’ ‘Em remix with me, Ne-Yo and Fab and I also wrote and produced and recorded the “Joan of Arc” record. I decided the day I did it that I wanted to release it. As far as the supergroup, the chemistry is awesome in the studio between the three of us. I think that it’s all about timing. We all have our own careers and obligations and when we get a body of work that is representative of what all of us can bring to the table I am sure that we will have no problem between our audiences releasing it and getting feedback on whether they enjoy it.