S. Samuel
R&B singer Ryan Leslie is not letting last week's publicized $1 million verdict in a laptop case bring him down by announcing a new music project inspired by his legal crunch.
According to Les, he has used his energy from the court ruling to create a new EP and documentary called Black Mozart.
“Black Mozart starts at the moment that I walk out of the courthouse,” he says, referring to the trial that took place in Manhattan federal court this past week. “I wrote the entire album in the two days following the verdict, so the album is written and will be recorded in layers with the strings, horns and potentially a choir in the royal conservatory in Vienna, Austria, one of the homes of some of the most classical music ever written.” (VIBE)
The popular singer publicly addressed the bad press during a live concert a few days ago.
“And despite what the jury said, that million dollar reward is still out there for anybody who can return all my compositions to me. That’s why I never took the video off of YouTube. I never got anything back, but luckily God blessed me with talent and I could make some of the music over again, you know what I’m saying? … So I appreciate each and every one of y’all for your support tonight and for the future ’cause we gonna keep making this music and we gonna try to work something out with my man over in Germany – maybe he misunderstood – but this is a record off that album.” (Real Talk NY)
Details of the court ruling against Les became public late last week.
Jurors taught a big-talking hip-hop artist a lesson about broken promises yesterday when they ordered him to pay the $1 million reward he had offered for the return of his stolen laptop. Cheapskate performer and producer Ryan Leslie must fork over the Benjamins to auto-repair-shop owner Armin Augstein, who found the computer while walking his dog and turned it over to German cops in November 2010. Augstein, who returned home to Pulheim, Germany, after testifying against Leslie in Manhattan federal court, told The Post by phone he felt “very good” about the verdict. “I’m very happy . . . that the American judicial system, which is so totally different from ours, functioned so well with a jury that are not professionals and are laymen,” he said in German through one his lawyers, Steven Thal. (New York Post)
The singer also used Twitter to slam the negative publicity.
“Don’t believe everything you read in the f*ckin news.” Even though it’s very entertaining! http://instagr.am/p/SnXOtBhWms/,” he tweeted Thursday (November 29) (Ryan Leslie’s Twitter)
Check out Ryan Leslie addressing the laptop:
