Rumors

It wasn’t until 1998 when Kleiman got his first taste of the music industry, at OneLevel.com – a hip-hop community commerce website – alongside a pair of Cornell University graduate friends. As a third partner, he solicited marketing opportunities, and built relationships for the site’s board that included Robert De Niro, Heavy D, and Q-Tip. Around this time, Kleiman also landed on a relatively unknown Mark Ronson’s radar. Ronson would run into him at star-studded high school basketball games around the Big Apple, where tastemakers from the city would link up for must-see matchups. “[Rich] always walked around with this aura — it wasn’t like he was scary, but he had a sense of purpose,” the British DJ-turned-producer tells Billboard. “He had a level of gravitas which I was curious about. At first, you’re like, ‘Who is this guy?'”

Billboard

Ronson continues to recall fond memories of his friendship with Kleiman, which took them to the Tuscany Hills of Italy’s countryside, where he DJ’d Tom Cruise’s wedding to Katie Holmes in 2006, and another time where the Grammy-winning producer tanked a meeting they had with Jay-Z at Baseline Studios because he was left star-struck. The two remain best friends, and Mark Ronson is actually the godfather to one of Kleiman’s daughters. He’s not surprised at the massive level of success Rich has had in building his business either, as the tea leaves were apparent during their time working side-by-side at Allido. “It’s his intelligence and creativity more than anything,” Ronson adds. “Even when we didn’t have a lot of money, I knew we’d be able to figure it out with him being inventive. He loves the art of the deal, and he sees things in a different way.”

Billboard