Ryan Leslie is ready to bring us his musical prowess once again with the release of his upcoming album, Les Is More.
In an exclusive interview with Hip-Hop N More, Les spoke on going for an independent release this time around, inspiration behind the album’s artwork, lost collaborations with 50 Cent & Kanye West, and even the possibility of a super group with Fabolous & Ne-Yo.
On Going Independent:
“I just don’t like the restrictions. I think there are commercial restrictions that are just inevitable when you’re in a major label system. This album is really just about being as creatively unrestricted as possible. Until we have built a distribution network of fans that made it commercially viable to be creatively unrestricted, it was just something that a major would have to wait on.”
On The Album Album:
“I always had this idea and commercially, once again, I just felt like it was gonna be some backlash with regard to this idea because number 1, my face is not on the cover and number 2, when this photograph of the embroidered artwork was printed, it was almost black. And if you look at how it was gonna be displayed in retail stores, it’s a challenge. But again something creative I always wanted to do and it just happened that one of my staff members is connected to the school which created it. So once I presented this concept in their staff meeting, it was very eager to help bring this idea to fruition. I’m ecstatic about the fact that it’s one of one and that it’s embroidered by hand. It’s really what this project is all about. It’s about infusing as much unique & exclusive art that I possibly can.”
On The Reality Of A Ne-Yo/Fabolous Supergroup:
“It is always an option. It’s just gonna depend on scheduling.”