Ryan Leslie: You probably got to this page by doing some research on Cassie, and yes I wrote and produced her smash single "Me & U"...After four years of Harvard where I juggled real classes with my own process of teaching myself how to make records, I finally broke into the big leagues as a producer in 2003 when I signed a management contract with Diddy. I also signed a record deal that year, and my label never released my album, so I'm on MySpace to share that music with y'all. People who know me know about the NextSelection Lifestyle Group, the online media company I run with my partner Rasheed Richmond. I started the world's leading behind-the-scenes music industry video blog at NS4LIFE.COM to let people know what it's really like to be in my world.

Elle Varner: or some, living a dream is a privilege…a blessing, if you will. For others, it’s more of a calling. There’s no doubt that Elle Varner’s creative journey should be filed in the latter category, but even as her destiny unfolds before her, she can barely believe her eyes.

Hers was a childhood steeped in hooks and verses, melodies and choruses. Whether flipping through her mother’s Motown collection, singing along to Burt Bacharach classics or accompanying her songwriter parents to their recording sessions, music was an ever-present force. It’s the only life she knew. “Growing up in the studio was absolutely normal for me, but looking back, I realize that it’s not a very common environment for a kid,” Elle says. “At an early age, I absorbed so much about music and learned how to create a song, from beginning to end. My dad always asked for my opinion about what he was working on and I remember my mom would ask, ‘What word should I add here?’ They really empowered me.”

With the release of her debut album, Perfectly Imperfect (MBK Entertainment/RCA Records), which she wrote and co-produced, it’s evident that her early experiences have served her well. Crafting the album also proved to be a full-circle moment for the 22-year-old singer/songwriter as she enlisted the help of her parents – Jimmy Varner and Mikelyn Roderick – both of whom contributed their production and vocal arrangement talents and pushed Elle toward, and beyond, the bounds of her creativity.