Over the next year, we’ll be spotlighting features from our e-zines from the last 25 years. T M H Entertainment, T M Hxone and Urban Bridgez.
As the longest running website for R&B online, since 1999 – We’ve been able to conduct some amazing interviews with R&B Royalty, as well Hip Hop Legends.
UB has also been blessed to speak with some of black cultures, biggest icons, in film, television and literature.
Singer, actress and dancer Cassie Ventura has been in the headlines recently, due to her personal life. In this spotlight, we wanted to bring the attention back to her talent!
Cassie was 19 years old, when she was a young model turned singer.
Signed by Ryan Leslie, a Bad Boy in-house producer at the time, to his production company NextSelection. Distributed by Tommy Mottola‘s Casablanca/Universal.
Born in New London, Connecticut, Cassie attended Williams School, where she developed a passion for performing arts and honed her skills in singing and dancing.
Cassie‘s first brush with the music industry when she appeared in Mario‘s video for “Just a Friend 2002.” With the help of producer Rockwilder, she began taking formal voice and modern ballet lessons.
After graduation from high school, she started modeling in New York City.
In 2004, Cassie signed to Wilhelmina Models and used that success as her springboard into music.
“I don’t deny the modeling because it was my steppingstone, but we want people to respect me as an artist,” Cassie stated to Billboard. “I already work twice as hard to get away from the ‘pretty girl syndrome.’ People think I’m just singing what people feed me, but I’ve worked hard.”
The buzz for Cassie started when she posted “Me & U” on her MySpace page in November of 2005.
The song generated more than 6.5 million streams. “The Web played a huge role in her appeal,” Ryan Leslie stated at the time to Billboard, calling MySpace “the MTV of the Internet” due to its artist breakthrough potential. “Our notion was, ‘If you build it, they will come.’ We built it in the form of video blogs, broadband and other online media.”
Cassie’s self-titled debut was released in the summer of 2006. The album peaked in the top three of the Billboard R&B/hip-hop charts, and #4 on the Billboard 200. “Me & U” peaked at #3, earning platinum certification.
Mario then invited her to be the lead girl in the video for his single “Here I Go Again”, Missy Elliot asked Cassie to be the face of her Adidas “Respect M.E.” clothing line, and Target selected her to be on their Times Square billboard.
In 2008, she appeared in the film “Step Up 2: The Streets” and recorded for the soundtrack.
Cassie started working on her sophomore album in 2008. She recorded several singles for the album entitled “Electro Love,” but the project was shelved.
Cassie did release singles to prep the album and singles after the album was shelved. Including; “Official Girl” with Lil Wayne in 2008; “Let’s Get Crazy” with Akon in 2009; “Radio” with Fabolous and “Make You a Believer” with Jadakiss in 2011; and “Balcony” with Jeezy in 2012. That same year on Valentine’s Day, Cassie released “King of Hearts,” and later appeared on Nicki Minaj‘s single “The Boys.”
In 2013 the “RockaByeBaby” mixtape was released in April, and included collaborations with Wiz Khalifa, Rick Ross, and Meek Mills.
After starring in “Honey 3: Dare to Dance” and “The Perfect Match” in 2016, Cassie signed with Epic Records. The G-Eazy collaboration “Love a Loser,” was her first single, was released in 2017.
In 2019, Cassie released the singles “Excuses,” “Don’t Let Go,” “Teach Me,” and “Simple Things.” In recent years Cassie has also appeared on songs with Chris Brown and Solange.
Aries from UB spoke to Cassie in 2008, Cassie was prepping the release of her sophomore album, which was later shelved.
In the interview, Cassie talks about the good and bad parts of success, not being ready when “Me & U” dropped and getting over her stage fright.
Plus she speaks on her working relationship with Ryan Leslie and more.
UrbanBridgez.com: Tell me about the new album.
Cassie: My new album let’s see… Right now we’re still working on it. We should finish and wrap it up around Thanksgiving. I’m really excited about it. I recorded so many songs this time around, unlike with my first album. So I will be picking the best songs, the ones that fit me to go on it. Expect the un-expected!UrbanBridgez.com: Official Girl is such a cool song, how did that song come about?
Cassie: Thank you so much. I actually first heard it while I was in the studio. It was kind of in a mix that was playing and it just really stood out to me. It’s so relatable to me as well to other young girls. I think the song has a good message and musically it’s so different. Something people really aren’t use to and I just love it. One of my favorite songs.UrbanBridgez.com: I hear you worked with The Dream & B Cox time around, how was those experiences?
Cassie: I had so much fun! I worked with Brian kinda early on, we sat and worked on figuring out what type of hot records we wanted to make. That was the first time I went down to Atlanta to record for this project, then I went back again to finish working with him. Then I went to Atlanta to record with Rodney Jerkins and I recorded with Tricky Stewart and Dream in Atlanta also (laughs). Those two are an interesting combination, so I knew I would enjoy working with them. I love how Dream’s album tells a story, so we worked on songs like that for my album.UrbanBridgez.com: You and Ryan Leslie seem to have a great working relationship, what do you think he brings out of you nobody else does?
Cassie: Ryan defiantly came in my life at a time where music was new and fresh to me. At that time I really didn’t know how the industry was or anything like that. So he taught me a lot about that and knowing me on an individual level he is always able to incorporate the two. I love working with him, he brings out the best in me.
UrbanBridgez.com: What’s the next single before the album drops?
Cassie: Really we’re not sure at this point. We’re working on a few. It really feels so good to have more to work with as far as picking singles this time around. We didn’t have it like that the first time. So soon, we should know.UrbanBridgez.com: You had so much success with Me & U, did you feel at the time you were ready for it all?
Cassie: I defiantly wasn’t ready! I wasn’t where an artist is suppose to be when we released my first single. Everything happens for a reason, but I wasn’t 100% there at the time.UrbanBridgez.com: What would you have liked to see happen this time around that didn’t with your debut?
Cassie: I would love to see this album go platinum (laughs)! But really I couldn’t really ask for more that I did get from the debut album. I had a hit single, I got to travel international. My favorite place in the world is Japan/Tokyo and I got to visit it all because of the success from the first album.UrbanBridgez.com: What’s been the best part about success and the worst part?
Cassie: People knowing more about me than I know about myself (laughs). Just this industry as a whole, being a apart of it is a gift and a curse. With the blogs and rumors and things, it’s hard at times. Having success is always good, but there is a bad part to it and I really wasn’t prepared for it all.UrbanBridgez.com: You mentioned having stage fright in the past, do you think you’ve gotten over it?
Cassie: Yes, Thank God (laughs)! I’m so happy I did. I’m excited to go back out with this project and do shows.
UrbanBridgez.com: What’s something about you that you want your fans to know that they may not know?
Cassie: Really I think my core fans really know me well. I think they get it (laughs).UrbanBridgez.com: Any last words for your fans?
Cassie: Thanks so much for the support and I’m really excited about the new album!
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