Casandra "Cassie" Ventura (born August 26, 1986) is an American model and singer. After being introduced to music producer Ryan Leslie, she was signed to his music-media company, NextSelection Lifestyle Group. Leslie wrote and produced Cassie’s first single, "Me & U", which became a major hit in 2006.[1] She convinced Sean "Diddy" Combs to partner his Bad Boy Records with Leslie’s NextSelection imprint for the release of her debut album, Cassie, which was released in August 2006.MTV News reported in June 2007 that contrary to rumors, Cassie had not been dropped from Bad Boy Records after releasing two singles from her self-titled debut album. Diddy said that she was in the studio working with producers Kanye West and Pharrell Williams on her second album.[11] It was also reported that Cassie was no longer collaborating with Ryan Leslie, who had produced the majority of her debut album.[12] However, the singer later stated that she was open to collaborating with Leslie again.[13] According to Bad Boy A&R Daniel ‘Skid’ Mitchell, rather than largely relying on the one songwriter-producer, the new album’s mix of writers and producers, as well as her own co-write input, makes it a more personal record for her.[14] Additional production on the album came from Seven and LV, as well as Diddy himself.[15] Cassie said that she had also collaborated with Akon, The Neptunes, Danja, Eric Hudson, The Surf Club and Rob Holiday, although she was not sure which tracks were going to be included on the album.[13] Commenting on the number of producers on the album, Cassie said that she "collaborated with a lot of different producers and a lot of different writers, which was an amazing opportunity for me, because on my first album, one producer [Ryan Leslie] straight through