“I Think He Is Hugely & Grossly Underrated”

R&B hitmaker Musiq Soulchild recently opened up about his respect for fellow musician Ryan Leslie and why he may be the music industry's most underrated artist.

When asked to name his most desired collaborator, Musiq quickly praised Leslie’s talents.

“Ryan Leslie. I think he is hugely and grossly underrated. He’s one of those rare dudes that do everything and that doesn’t come around often. He does everything and does it well. He writes, sings, plays, makes beats, raps, and he understands the concept of showmanship. Lalah Hathaway is another one. She’s a core audience favorite but she doesn’t get the same popularity as some more exposed artists and that’s a shame.” (Rap-Up)

In 2009, Leslie hinted at a possible super group being in the works, consisting of Fabolous and Ne-Yo.

“We’re talking about a triple-team collaboration that’s really gonna hurt the game,” he revealed. “Your boy Fab, the boy Ne-Yo and yours truly on the board. It’s really gonna put a hurting on everybody…The table is open — if you’re bringing something to the table, you can break bread. It’s about conceptualizing. It’s not gonna be a project that’s thrown together. It’s gonna be a real roundtable, and we’re gonna talk about really putting something in the atmosphere that contributes something that’s never been done before.” (MTV)

In December ’09, Leslie spoke on his status in the industry and struggles with pushing substantial record sales.

“They’ll do big superstar numbers when I’m a big superstar,” Leslie told DJ Vlad in an interview. “I mean, we working on it. It takes consistent messaging and it takes superstar exposure so like I said, usually the vehicle for exposure is a record so once there is a record that connects, and everyone is listening to it, and the people who haven’t heard of me hear that record and that’s the way they’re introduced to me, then I mean, it’s just a very simple process how it goes down. So we’re building on that and we’re working on that.” (Vlad TV)

His last album, Transition, landed in stores in November 2009.

Hit-making producer Ryan Leslie’s Transition evens things out in Top 50 landing the last spot at No. 50. The singer’s latest effort has sold 12,000 records to date after seven days in stores. (SOHH Sales Wrap)

Check out some recent Ryan Leslie footage down below: