1: When did you start making music? (Leyna Wright)

Music has always played a major role in my life, ever since I was a little kid with my dad putting on shows in his earlier stages of life. He even went to the historic Woodstock. His brother, that I never met was the tour drummer for the Four Seasons. With that being said, as a kid I was introduced to a varied and diverse array of music from Santana to Al Green and Miles Davis to Pink Floyd or The Beatles even Cream and Peter Gabriel. Thus, I believe music was born into my genes and why I was put on this Earth. When I was in school at Daniels Middle School in Raleigh, NC I joined the concert band and played with them from 6th to 8th grade. So, specifically playing music gave me the start and the opportunity to begin exploring my passion. When it comes to what I have been doing now, it passionately started when I was 13 at the end of 8th grade. I began rigorously writing poetry, and that transformed into rhyme schemes and raps. This lead me to take a class in high school to learn the basics of recording. I taught myself the rest of the way up until I began studying at Berklee College of Music last year to improve my craft and skills from emceeing to being an engineer, and even the proper methods of promoting and marketing. With all of the knowledge and experience that I gain from that, I plan to eventually own my own business. (Mr. Leon)

2: Who inspired you? (LW)

Most people have hero’s that inspire them, but I never had one to look up to. The closest thing would probably be my father whom introduced me to a lot of the music I listened to when I was young. I more so simply go off what can move me and my feelings and contribute positivity in the world we live in. Some of my earliest influences to my music were The Gorillaz, Nujabes, Immortal Technique, J. Dilla, Peter Gabriel, Daft Punk, Santana, Funkadelic and many jazz compilations. Many other things also inspire me that are not directly related to people, including experiences around me and my own struggles or trials and tribulations from what I hear and see in this world I walk. All of this helps me write the poetry and art that I hope will bring awareness to certain topics and situations. (ML)

3: How has your music changed over time (if you think it’s changed)? (LW)

It has changed in the sense of my maturity as well as outlook on the world. The overall purpose of why I do what I do has stayed the same and I will touch on that more in the following questions. Lyrically, my content stays relevant to current events as well as current situations and how my life is adapting or going. Some of it can be dark and brutal while in other cases it is happy and uplifting. It will always be down right honest and hopefully make you think. In terms of the music I can thank my good friend, business partner and collaborator Typical Nick with trying to get me to step outside of my box in the sense of a more classic or old school feel of hip-hop when I rap and diverge/immerse myself into the new school without losing who I am and what I stand for. He tells me I am in a genre of my own that is un-nameable or describable as I am making music that could be considered avant-garde. (ML)

4: Why do you rap? (LW)

It is not a matter if I rap or do not rap or if I sing or do not sing. Even for the matter of why I chose the genre I chose or didn’t choose. I’m a person that prides himself on being unclassified, in the sense of being unique. Who wants to be normal when we all can be different? The possibilities are endless when it comes to being a creative mind as you can manipulate sounds to be anything you want especially in the digital age. Easily said I do not just rap, I try to excel in my abilities in all aspects from engineering to producing, emceeing and singing. I might be stronger in certain areas but that is what practice is for. Basically what I am saying is I do not limit myself to one thing when there is a massive spectrum to explore. I do what I do simply out of passion and love and the eagerness to help others out. Thus if I make music for the rest of my life and there is no payoff and I end up homeless I will still be happy for following my dreams because at the end of the day I would have achieved them no matter what anyone says and I am willing to put in the sacrifice to do so! (ML)

5: What is most important to you, in relation to your music? (LW)

The most important thing for me when it comes to music is spreading the following idea: peace and love through music. so people can feel hope/happiness to one day bring global unity to this planet. If I can inspire and touch one soul at a time to make them be a better person, then I have done my job. You have to start small to be big. This also includes helping those find their calling and purpose in this world, as I have. Through experiences and relations of all kinds there is no reason we can’t band together, after all to me music is the one language everyone can communicate with. Simply, I want to be able to move any audience that listens to my music and to convey positive, truthful and meaningful messages that make them feel. To me this is the most important thing of all because once I do that in the end I will have come into this world and made a difference and will get to leave it a better place for future generations to live and set a precedent or code they can go by and follow. (ML)

6: What are your goals, or what is the best possible outcome for you and your music? (LW)

I have many goals some long and others short term. In the now I am finishing my debut LP called Vision and Soul. With that I will be hosting marches to raise awareness and money to give to charity in these categories that desperately need attention such as suicide, sexual assault, equal power and substance abuse. At the end of each march there will be a benefit concert where all proceeds would go to the cause and charity. These dates are still to be announced. I am also getting ready to release a side project before the album called The Curse of Leon, which I have recorded in the same time period as the album so there is some relevance between the two. In the long term however, I am looking to own my own entertainment company. The things that would include, but not limit myself to would be renting music equipment out to event planning, recording/editing/mixing even mastering songs in my studio and contracting out others and performers including myself to do gigs, ect. That is not all either, in owning my own company I will be able to partner it with my own record label/studio and have two separate business’s and identities that work together. In the future I would also like to own a night lounge where I can host all different types of music and support local acts. Other things pertaining to my music I hope to be able to do it for the rest of my life and get picked up in the meantime for a distribution deal to help get it out to the public more as well as print up a vinyl record of one of my albums to come. Last, but surely not least it would be a dream come true to play at huge music festivals like Bonnarroo and play on late night shows like Saturday Night Live or on Fallon with a full live band! I also can’t forget that touring the world playing my music for everyone would be a highlight of my career. (ML)

7: Is there any personal information about yourself, in relation to your music, that you’d like to share? (LW)

I am 23 years old and am from Raleigh, NC. I currently live in the mountains of NC. Since I was 17 I have traveled to play shows in Cali, Detroit, NY and all over NC. I hope to expand that very soon when I tour. Some notable artists I have worked with thus far are the legendary King Los from Baltimore, whom was signed to P. Diddy’s record label, Bad Boy Records, whom he is a close friend to, Rockie Fresh, right hand man to Rick Ross, NC native’s Rapper Big Pooh formerly of Little Brother and Supastition out of Greenville, NC who has worked with the likes of KRS 1 and Rass Kass. I also have worked with 2009 Grammy Nominated singer/songwriter Kokayi and Substantial who is a long time collaborator of the late great Japanese Jazz Hip-Hop producer Nujabes. The list continues on of who I have worked with in well respected, underground aficionado, Blame One,  the unstoppable battle rapper Soul Khan who has worked with Lupe Fiasco and last but not least Koncept who is big over in South Korea and has worked with Royce da 5’9 who is close nit with Eminem. As for producers J. Cuse, Klefto and Equalibrum come to mind. Equal is best known for working very closely with rapper Intuition. Anyways, I at one point in the NC area for Hip-Hop on Reverbnation was ranked #2 on the charts and have been played on college radio stations such as WKNC 88.1 and WCU’s small radio station before as well. (ML)