What was it like working with Usher on the Confessions album?

Ryan Toby: It was an amazing experience. He’s a bonafide superstar. Very professional. Very efficient. Just come in and get it done. He’s a real cool down to earth guy. I learned a lot from him.

As a producer, dealing with people, do you find that a lot of times they don’t come in a handle business?

Ryan Toby: Sometimes. Some of them can be Diva’. And they want this and they want that. They can’t sing unless they got this and that. They can only drink this kind of water. I mean some of them can be real Diva’. I haven’t had to deal with too many of those. Thank God. The celebrities that I’ve worked with, from Will Smith to Mary J. Blige; even Lionel Ritchie, were just like super cool, down to earth, regular folks.

When someone is working with Ryan, are you a Diva?

Ryan Toby: LOL. Naw. No where near a Diva. The studio for me is like, that’s my sanctuary. Besides being with my family. So, I’m no where near a Diva.

How many children do you have?

Ryan Toby: I have a 6 year old daughter and my wife and I, Claudette have 2 boys total. A 2 year old and 9 month old.

Are you getting any sleep in between producing?

Ryan Toby: Actually, yeah. He’ll be 10 months in a few days. And the other one will be 3 tomorrow. So everybody is growing up. The baby is almost walking. So he’s good.

Is City High over? Are you thinking of coming back together?

Ryan Toby: For now, the City High thing is over. We just outgrew the situation. We just wanted to move on. We were 3 solo artists who were put together in this group to kind of just launch our solo careers. But it didn’t last as long as we thought it would. We thought we’d get at least 2 to 3 albums out of it. But we outgrew at the end of the one album and we were just ready to move on.

Will you and your wife Claudette, one of the members of City High be collaborating?

Ryan Toby: Oh most definitely. I co-wrote her whole album. We did it together. She co-executive produced my album. The label that we have, Overflow Entertainment, that’s our label together. We’re doing a lot of work with each other as far as shows…we’re doing red carpet events together. Things like that. We’re definitely…in the future. We’re planning a duet album. We want to drop our solo albums first.

With your new company Overflow Entertainment, are you introducing any subsidiary companies that the world should look out for?

Ryan Toby: Well, it’s so new. We just started it. We’ve done a record label and the first song to be released will be ‘A Soul of a Songwriter’ which is my album. So we’re taking it step by step. We’re not diving in too deep. We’re not trying to find artists right now or producers or anything like that. We have plenty of time for that. Right now we just want to have a success with A Soul of a Songwriter album. Get it out there and let the world hear it. Based on its success we want to branch out into other things.

Just My Thang featuring Beanie Sigel; is that the first single?

Ryan Toby:  Yeah, that’s the first single. Produced by myself. Written by myself. Beanie jumped on the record. He blazed it up real hot for me. He’s from the Philadelphia area where I grew up. I got a lot of love for Philly. Getting Beanie on the record was like spreading hometown love, know what I mean?

I can’t really ask you who’d you like to work with because you’ve worked with everybody. How does it feel to have that kind of talent that draws people in?

Ryan Toby: Wow. It’s God given. It’s not me that’s for sure. I have a strong belief and faith in God. I was raised in Church. I just believe that it’s just the God in me. The Christ in me. My goal is to let the world see that. Especially in my industry; in music and R&B and in Hip Hop you’re just hearing so many negative songs. People saying things that they shouldn’t say and just talking to women in all kind of crazy ways. I just believe that young people, especially young black men to have a positive role model. A celebrity and an artist who is not afraid to take responsibility for the things they say. I believe I am a role model and that’s why I’m doing it. I want to inspire these young men and teach them how to be men. How to teach these young brothers what to say and how to say it. In any situation I never rely on my talent, whether it’s a writing situation or a performance situation; I rely on the one that gave me the talent. And it comes out shining every time.

Will that open policy hurt you or help you?

Ryan Toby:  I think that will set me apart. While everybody else is trying to be thugs and trying to be pimps; talking to the women all crazy. Women, young or old, they are still looking for that Prince Charming. They’re still looking for that night in shining armor. They still want to be swept off their feet. They want to be made love too. I wanted to make that kind of record that was a feel good record that was sonically making love to the women. And I don’t have songs on my album that are licking you up and down and doing all kinds of crazy things in the bedroom. It’s not about that. And when I say making love to, it’s more than just physical and sexual. I believe every song out now it’s just talking about the physical and sexual side of loving a woman. Instead of knowing a woman and what a woman wants. And I wanted to tap into that other side of being married and getting to know my wife and understanding my wife. Another side of women. Sure they want to be sexy and go to the club and want to look good. What happens when they leave the club and they go home and their all alone looking for that special someone to tell them the right things? To hold them. To kiss them on the forehead. I want to be that guy. I believe that, that guy versus the guy you just want to take home for the night will be the guy you want to introduce to your mama. And then that way, I’m in your life forever. That’s the type of person that I am and I’m not afraid to let people see that. And I believe that that’s what women miss. Just society in general we miss that. Everything is fast satisfaction. Fast gratification. Give it to me now. I want it now. And walk away. Divorce rates are high. And everything is just crazy. We some stability. We need somebody to just stand up and say, I’m a stable individual. I’m not just looking for the quick fix. I’m here to stay and I’m here to offer you something that is long lasting.

Would you say your style is lacked in today’s music?

Ryan Toby: Well, I’m not…I like what’s going on with R&B. The Ne-Yo’s, the Chris Brown’, the Bobby Valentino’; these guys are putting out deep records. So I can’t say there’s a lack of it. I just believe that there needs to be more of it. And just more honest guys and more great character. It takes an honest guy to say something else and mean it from the bottom of his heart. I just want to add more of that to the radio waves. When it comes down to the interviews I want to say something important. I don’t just want to talk about my crib or my rims or my money. Or me me me. Or my success or how I’m the hottest in the game. Or how they slept on me or look at me now. I don’t want to be that guy. I want to be the one who says trust in God. Believe in yourself. I’m not saying I’m perfect. But love has never been about perfection. And women don’t expect perfection. That’s one thing that I’ve learned from being married. A women doesn’t want perfection, she just wants honesty. And a decent effort. That will get you everywhere with a woman.

Has being married changed the way you make music? And has it changed the way you portray yourself?

Ryan Toby: Yes. Yes. Most definitely. It’s the marriage aspect as well as the family aspect. My smallest son, for the first time I was actually there for everything. For my other children I was on tour, I was running around the country. I was busy and working. With my youngest son I was there from conception to swollen feet to rubbing ankles, midnight bottles and labor. Me seeing that just changed my outlook on everything. Being with a women day in and day out, not just in an environment, we actually have a reason to be living together. It’s not just because ….she belongs to me. And having her belong to me and my children belong to me, it just changed my outlook on life in general. It made me feel more powerful. And it made me recognize the power of being a real man and what that’s all about. And then it translates into my music because I look at the power of the gift that God has given me. He gave me my family. So the decisions I make and the moves that I make and my actions can directly affect the outcome of my family’s lives. If I’m running the streets being a knuckle head and all hell breaks loose at my home; I caused that. Being the man that I’m supposed to be? My life is going to prosper. My children’ going to love me. My wife’ going to love me. She’s going to be blessed. And a better person and a better woman because of me. So when I saw that and even how it translates into my music is that…God gave creative people; writers and singers and Journalists like yourself…he gave us the ability to touch people’s lives through our words and through our thoughts. People that we may never meet, people who are a thousand miles away from us. I can write a song in South Jersey that will make a girl in Houston, Texas cry. I never met that girl, I don’t know what she’s going through but she’ll tell me at a show that she plays that song everyday. It makes me cry. It gets me through that situation. Like wow, that’s powerful. It can happen 10,000 miles away, in another country, to a person who doesn’t speak the same language as me. What I’m basically saying is, what I realized through these series of events; getting married and really being there and seeing my child develop and watching my children develop and watching my wife develop through the covenant of out marriage and our relationship is like…I have power to effect peoples lives. I don’t take that lightly. That’s really really deep.

God has given me a gift to directly effect peoples lives and I take full responsibility for that.

What music on your album reflects those passions?

Ryan Toby: Well, you know what? Without really trying it’s almost like I really made the whole album for my wife. We weren’t even married at the time when I really started writing most of the songs. Some of them I touched up and revamped for the new album. Some are new songs. The song that is dedicated to her is called ‘Miss America’. And really it’s for every woman in America, really every woman in the world. I hate to sound like a mush, know what I’m saying’? But there is a real lack of love. Women are really treated foul and I think about my younger days. And the things I used to do as a young man. And it takes a good woman to stick by you through that nonsense, till you come around and get your act together. And Lord willing she’s still there. And she ain’t leave you? And when mines stayed there with me, I really realized what love was all about so I just wanted to reflect that love back on to her so with the song ‘Miss America’, I’m telling her basically I’m going to do for her everything she’s done for me. And your gonna feel like Miss America. And that’s like every little girl. She wants to feel beautiful. She wants to feel appreciated. Then there’s a song on my album called ‘So Good’ which is my version of a wedding song. My wife is singing background with me on that song. She’s singing the hook with me.

Marriage and the Industry; how do you not get caught up?

Ryan Toby: The key to a successful marriage in this industry is to pray a lot together. There is power in prayer especially between a husband and his wife. That’s why the union is attacked the most because there’s power in it. And the second thing that we do is stay together at all times. If I’m going to Miami, she’s going to Miami. If I’m going to L.A. she’s going to L.A. We’re together at all times and that way there’s no room for rumors. There’s no ‘I saw him there’. No you didn’t because she was with me. There’s no room for none of that. We just stay together at all times. That’s what we try to do.

Do you keep your children with you at all times as well?

Ryan Toby: Well, they are still very young. But once the baby turns 1 this year, we’re going to start taking them with us.

How does someone get to work with you?

Ryan Toby: They just find me. Either through my publishing company or they just call me. My phone never stops ringing. Or through My space.

What advice would give to people who aspire to be like you or where you are at?

Ryan Toby: The biggest piece of advice that I tell young folks in the industry that I meet; always remember the gift that God gave you for all the reasons that I told you earlier. Recognize that the industry needs you and that gift more than you and that gift need them. The way that they’ve changed the perception of it, they want us to believe that we need them to make it. But all that potential that God has put in you as an artist I don’t believe that there’s just one way for you to get in. because, we got to think that those companies, all they are, are companies with money. And if they didn’t have us, they wouldn’t have money very long. But us without them, you’re still a hot writer; you’re still a dope singer, your still a dope producer. You don’t become a hot singer when you got your record deal. You were a hot singer before the deal that’s how you got the meeting, you know? You don’t become the dope producer when you become the number single on Beyonce’ album, you were a dope producer before you did that. That’s why she picked your beat in the first place because you were dope. I just want artists to understand how good they are already. And you got to remember that otherwise you’ll go and sell your soul trying to get on just to be famous. It’s really not worth it. People will buy it without a record company.