Ryan Leslie

An exceptionally shrewd producer, songwriter, performer, businessman, and self-promoter -- he hired someone to film nearly all of his activities, which were diligently edited and uploaded to YouTube -- Ryan Leslie began making music as a teenager, scored a perfect 1600 on his SATs before he was old enough to drive, and graduated from Harvard at the age of 19. He got a foothold in the music industry within four years of graduation; by the end of 2005, he had written and/or produced tracks for 702, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Carl Thomas, and New Edition, and an album of his own was completed but shelved. A year later, he was the architect behind Cassie's "Me&U," a number one R&B single that also reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100; Cassie's subsequent album, produced almost entirely by Leslie, narrowly missed the top of both the Billboard 200 and R&B/hip-hop albums charts. Leslie then recorded another album of his own, which was scheduled for a mid-2008 release date. "Diamond Girl," its lead single, debuted on the charts earlier in the year, while successive singles "Addiction" and "How It Was Supposed to Be" also set the stage for his self-titled album, released in February 2009. Leslie followed it up quickly with Transition, issued only nine months later and inspired by a secret summertime fling. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi