Re: CASSIE VENTURA ~ as posted by the birthday boy himself, H-to-the-Muthafuckin' Fun
http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/music/general/view.bg?articleid=1272583
Boston Urban Music Festival, with Ryan
Leslie, M-Dot, Young Riot and Wiz Khalifa, at City Hall Plaza, Saturday, 4-7 p.m. Free.
By Martin Caballero
Friday, August 6, 2010 - Updated 9 hours ago
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Surviving college was just the beginning for Ryan Leslie.
At age 19, the r & b singer/producer wasn’t much different from any other young musician in Boston searching for a break. He says he was “virtually homeless” and barely making ends meet while dedicating all his free time and energy to writing and recording. The big difference was that Leslie - who returns to Boston to perform at the Boston Urban Music Festival at City Hall on Saturday - had a Harvard degree in his back pocket.
“To me,” Leslie, now 31, said by phone from Los Angeles, “the academic rigors of Harvard were not nearly as challenging as deciding I was going to embark on this incredible dream of living every day to be creative and to entertain and to make a living doing it.”
In 1994, Leslie walked into his first Harvard class as a 15-year-old freshman from Stockton, Calif., who had scored a perfect 1600 on his SATs. Despite his age, he adapted quickly to campus life.
“Everyone just treated me like one of the guys,” he said. “There were no issues. There were a couple of upper-class girls that taught me a few things about life, but aside from that, they really accepted me irrespective of my age. It encouraged me to grow up fast, which is ironic because when you pursue a career in music you’re perpetually young, you know? But, I’m happy that I did it at that age and I wouldn’t do it any other way because if I did I wouldn’t be where I am right now.”
When he wasn’t studying, Leslie spent hours recording in Harvard’s on-campus studios and singing with the school’s a cappella group, The Krokodiloes. Balancing his academic responsibilities with music proved tricky, even landing Leslie on academic probation at one point. But after receiving his diploma in 1998 and delivering the esteemed Harvard Oration at his graduation ceremony, he became another struggling musician in a city full of them.
“With necessity, you get accustomed to having a lot of control,” said Leslie, who sold instruments and worked a community-service job in Boston after graduating. “I had to be a marketer. I had to produce, manage and just hustle up whatever I could just to get something to eat. When you don’t have money, and resources and relationships, then you take on all the responsibilities yourself.”
Leslie is still a ruthless taskmaster, an approach that continues to serve him well. His career took off in 2003 after he left Boston, linked with P. Diddy and began writing songs for artists on Diddy’s Bad Boy Records. Since then, he’s released two albums of his, written songs for Beyonce and New Edition, discovered singer/model Cassie and started his own media company, NextSelection Lifestyle Group. His third album, “Les Is More,” is slated for release later this year.
Now he’s returning to Boston to perform at City Hall, the culmination of a dream he hopes to share with the city that helped him achieve it.
“I made a lot of friends and great connections with people in Boston who I still collaborate with to this date,” said Leslie, citing Funky Fresh Records owner Rusty Pendleton of Roxbury (also known as Rusty the Toe Jammer) as an early supporter. “I have a really great connection with Boston, Roxbury, Mattapan and Cambridge, obviously. I remember looking in the windows of Neiman Marcus right across from the train station and dreaming of the day when I could walk in and get whatever I wanted to wear for a show.
“It’s really great to be able to touch that dream. I’m going to come back to Boston and share a piece of that dream, not only with those who just want some entertainment but also with those who may need some inspiration in the journey that they have to undertake to pursue their own dreams of making it.”
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