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.