New Place, New Piano

39 Comments

When I arrived in New York in 2003, I moved into a one bedroom apartment in a brownstone in Harlem. NextSelection eventually spread out to occupy the entire brownstone and though I recently took up a residence in Hollywood, I’d always promised myself that I wouldn’t leave the apartment in Harlem until my album came out. Well it’s coming out in less than a month, and I have an amazing new place close to Central Park. It’s empty except for a special piece I’ve always wanted:

Steinway makes a great piano so when I decided to get one, I visited Steinway Hall on 57th street in NYC. Before I made my final selection, Evan got nervous filming, so we missed the beautiful Kewazinga Bubinga instrument I chose from the Crown Jewel collection. “Distinguished by its red color streaked with dark purple, and its conspicuous pores, Kewazinga Bubinga is highly valued for architectural and design woodwork, and fine cabinetry.” I’ll play for you sometime.

 

Posted: January 11th, 2009 | Under: Inspiration, Style

39 Comments on “New Place, New Piano”

  1. 1 Noah Graham said at 11:07 pm on January 11th, 2009:

    Good on ya there Ryan, Steinway makes the best piano’s and it will help you make the best songs in 09..remember …kick drum,high hat,snare drum, high hat. is the million dollar beat pattern

  2. 2 Tiago da Fonseca said at 11:07 pm on January 11th, 2009:

    $16k on your 1st piece for your place?? Damn… I hate to see how much your gonna drop filling up the rest of it…..

  3. 3 Tiago da Fonseca said at 11:21 pm on January 11th, 2009:

    Also, just wondering about the switch to Vimeo over Youtube? I just jumped on Vimeo now since your vid posts here are from there, and noticed that “I Know What You Like!” had been on there for 4 months?? But I was subscribed to Youtube so I never saw it till now…. Any reason its only up on Vimeo?

  4. 4 Jason Anderson said at 11:22 pm on January 11th, 2009:

    Nice piano. Side note, I’ve notice that you are using Vimeo video players now vs YouTube like on your ns4life.com site. Have you departed from YouTube for Vimeo?

    I’ve noticed myself that Vimeo encodes videos better and they come out with better quality, just curious if you felt the same and hence the move to Vimeo?

  5. 5 Sabrina Revelle said at 2:04 am on January 12th, 2009:

    I JUSS ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR DRIVE!!!!!!!!!!! & TALENT OF COURSE!!! ITS TRULY INSPIRING!!!!! SO CONGRATS TO YOU!!! ON ALL YOUR SUCCESS!!!!! N MORE TO COME

  6. 6 Denise Behler said at 5:39 am on January 12th, 2009:

    It’s so cool that you are sharing your life with us! I wish more artists would do that.

  7. 7 Paddy RnbConcept said at 8:37 am on January 12th, 2009:

    So you bought that one? i prefer white colour pianos.

  8. 8 Facebook User said at 9:01 am on January 12th, 2009:

    That just shows you a REAL musician, a REAL artist. Can’t wait to hear the monstrosities that are born on that thing!!

  9. 9 Tarek Khatib said at 9:59 am on January 12th, 2009:

    Congrats, I hope we soon get to hear a new piece of art from your new toy.

  10. 10 Nicolas Soru Najm said at 12:38 pm on January 12th, 2009:

    Congratulations!! What a G lol. Buying your Piano before anything else. I’m actually starting to expect things like this from you :P Either way this will elevate your production value even higher (as if it wasn’t high enough)!!
    NS4LIFE!
    R-LES!!

  11. 11 Justin Adams said at 2:17 pm on January 12th, 2009:

    Niiiice, I’m deff waitin for that piano solo on that new piece. Congrats on bein able to afford one of those too lol, I think I’ll just stick to quick videos made in guitar center on their display boards haha

  12. 12 Alexander Dilliplane said at 10:55 am on January 13th, 2009:

    I definitely like how you picked the Piano before getting furniture… Always get the essentials first. Thumbs up! :)

  13. 13 Regis Herasme said at 11:17 am on January 13th, 2009:

    Can’t wait till the day I can afford one of those! lol

    When can us fans come visit the new cribby? :-D

  14. 14 Facebook User said at 11:19 am on January 13th, 2009:

    CLASSIC!!!

  15. 15 Kierra Gray said at 12:32 pm on January 13th, 2009:

    it’s beautiful!
    i’m excited to hear you play it :]

    {www.myspace.com/kierragray}

  16. 16 Facebook User said at 2:53 pm on January 13th, 2009:

    Wow, can’t wait to hear you play! I know you were excited :-)

    ~Ms. Instrumental~

  17. 17 Philip Stevens said at 2:58 pm on January 13th, 2009:

    Very nice. Steinway’s are beautiful pianos. And seriously, better be a nice piano for $16 grand.

  18. 18 Dennis Thanh Lam said at 3:24 pm on January 13th, 2009:

    Awesome choice.
    Hope to see more of it in the near future.

    All the way from Denmark
    Take care Ry!

  19. 19 Christina Elizabeth said at 4:47 pm on January 13th, 2009:

    that’s a blessing.

  20. 20 Facebook User said at 5:07 pm on January 13th, 2009:

    Gorgeous piano. So, god bless and take care of you.

  21. 21 Koketso Donovan Mabua said at 6:00 pm on January 13th, 2009:

    Waiting on that solo…

  22. 22 Patrick Edmundson said at 10:57 pm on January 13th, 2009:

    Dang bro. How many pianos do u need lol. Like 10 keyboards and a piano :) Well I know that myself and the rest of the Next Selection Family is ready for that album. Make It Do What it do!

  23. 23 Pilé Air said at 11:45 am on January 14th, 2009:

    U can never have enough piano’s!!!! LOL
    I just bought myself a AKAI mpk.. It’s good for starting..
    Keep inspiring people!

  24. 24 Kristal Williams said at 12:53 pm on January 14th, 2009:

    Can’t wait for that album to drop. Keep making that music, cause i like your style and swagger.

  25. 25 Jeremy Danté Alexander said at 2:06 pm on January 14th, 2009:

    awww. he played “golden days” to test it out. everyone & they mom is waiting on the album.

  26. 26 Facebook User said at 1:12 pm on January 15th, 2009:

    Ryan i am a true fan of dr dre, scott storch, timbo, danja, BUT… after hearing ur beats i am amazed. Its a new sound and i think will change the hip hop/rnb industry. i am amazed by your focus on ur beats, its incredible. i can’t wait to hear ur album. i hope to hear more of ur beats in the future too. You are a producer who will hit the big time.

  27. 27 Shaun Hinchy said at 7:21 pm on January 15th, 2009:

    You Lucky LUCKY LUCKY Git.
    You don’t understand what I would do to get one of those Pianos.

    I’ve wanted one since I was like 6 years old, samples just don’t cut the mustard. I hope your gonna put that in a nice room too, with a decent set up. Here’s a tip. Surround Sound Mic, ;) put it in the middle of the Grand Piano it will be the best sound you’ll ever get from it. I learnt that when I was in a Classical Recording studio recording a similar Piano.

    Give me a year man, give me a year and I’ll own one.
    Witness to Change

  28. 28 Lauren Jones said at 12:28 pm on January 18th, 2009:

    What a beautiful piano, can’t wait to hear some more of that inspiring music that comes from such a talented man and wonderful instrument!!!!!! Congrats!!!!!

  29. 29 Kendra Clarke said at 2:03 pm on January 18th, 2009:

    Im soo proud of you ryan… and im holdin you to that offer about playing

  30. 30 Xavier DeJesus said at 6:33 pm on January 18th, 2009:

    R-Les got a new place and the first thing he thought about was a piano @ his crib…lol that shows u how dedicated he is 2 music…feel me..

    Everone make sure yaCop Ryan Leslie’s Self Tittled Album on Feb 10th!

  31. 31 Ryan Leslie said at 3:14 pm on January 19th, 2009:

    @Tiago & Jason – I use Vimeo Plus on this site so I can have better quality vids and customize the player (like the message at the end of the video). It’s worth it to me to spend 60 bucks/year to have a better site for my viewers. You can check out all of the features here:

    http://www.vimeo.com/plus/

  32. 32 Facebook User said at 1:41 pm on January 21st, 2009:

    Yo ryan its DJ Ritzy from the uk..i must say your site is reallyyyy reallyyyy GOOD !!!..i love it..its a little better than the jam packed less organised ns4life.com you previously had…wow Ryan you aways seem to amaze me !!!..your my role model..thanks for everything !!!!!!!…keep up the good work ryan….cant wait for RYAN LESLIE the album dropping !!!….10 DAYS before my birthday…it would be an ideal B-Day present..;) ..peace x..ya boy DJ Ritzy

  33. 33 Leila Smith said at 6:45 am on January 22nd, 2009:

    yeah your great

  34. 34 Leila Smith said at 7:22 am on January 22nd, 2009:

    Ryan leslies is the best artist and keep it up bro

  35. 35 Leila Smith said at 7:23 am on January 22nd, 2009:

    i’ll get to you soon bro i have class later i’m out.

  36. 36 Claire Marquess said at 6:20 pm on January 26th, 2009:

    I always said I would get a grand piano once I had a proper place to put it in…..am majorly jealous of the one you’ve got yourself there! Amazingness!! Lovin your work x

  37. 37 Facebook User said at 10:53 pm on February 14th, 2009:

    i wish i could have seen it! i bet that piano is too beautiful and u saw it everyone, Ryan said he would play it for me sometime…i will be waiting until that day Ryan! lol

  38. 38 Facebook User said at 1:16 am on March 22nd, 2009:

    i play the piano too and i love the fact that a Steinway was your first piece of “furniture!” =) you’re so dedicated to your music, keep inspiring me and others!

  39. 39 Judy Anderson said at 11:52 pm on July 16th, 2009:

    You’re such a show off but I love it! You play beautifully!

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