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HipHopWired: How did you come up with such a revolutionary way of getting around that?

Leslie: I spent a lot of time in Silicon Valley and I looked at every successful business, the outliers like Google, Amazon, Delta Airlines, Verizon… Every single one of these businesses has a one-to-one relationship with their consumers. For instance, Verizon can press a button and send an update to every single one of their subscribers directly in their email, without social media, without tweeting them, without sending them a FaceBook message. Really their idea of social media is growth and engagement, but it’s not required communication. So when I looked at all these other companies, Starbucks, Dell, Dropbox… They know every single one of their customers personally. And when I realized that Dropbox was able to manage 200 million users, and as an artist if I’m selling a couple 100 thousand records, and Jay Z sells 10 million records, unfortunately he’s not able to manage those people, because he’s not collecting the data.

HipHopWired: As you continue to build this direct relationship with your fans, you’ve made a habit of inviting groups of people to hang out with you at your studio. Why have you chosen to open yourself up in this way? 

Leslie: Man, I just want to show appreciation for the people who are supporting my art. So in many ways, I listen to the feedback of the fans. And they say, “Man, we want to see the process.” So I opened up my process to visitors. It has proved to be very successful. People really enjoyed it. A lot of folks are still in the antiquated ages and days of a star having to be untouchable or a star’s gotta be a star. The only time I’m untouchable is if I have to do it for safety or timing reasons. That’s the only time where I feel like I need to manage my interactions. But if not for that, I’m 100% accessible and it’s proven to be very successful.

HipHopWired: You call your fans the Renegade Club; is it true that you’re building an app for them under the same name?

Leslie: Yes, I want to build an app for the actual club, where members can interact with one another. How cool would it be if you were from Paris or Detroit or Italy or Germany and you landed in New York City and said, “I’d love to be able to connect with other Ryan Leslie fans. Does he have a show coming up?” So, we’re going to actually build an application that allows members of the club to interact with one another. I’m very excited about it.

HipHopWired: It sounds a little bit like Foursquare but specific to your fans around the world.

Leslie: Absolutely, and we want to use all of these best practice, all of these solutions and apply them to our industry. In the music industry we’ve been running around in the dark all this time. I refuse to continue running around in the dark, and I refuse to have anyone around me being cool in the dark. I’m interested in actually building the infrastructure, building the pathway, and blazing the trail. I’m going to bring everyone who is willing to listen to the Promised Land. I am the musical messiah.

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