HE BEGAN HIS RECORDING CAREER MORE THAN A DECADE AGO AS A SPINDLE-LEGGED PREPUBESCENT crooner, and he morphed into a chest-baring, ab-flexing showman before our eyes. This past year, Usher Raymond ascended to a level of superstardom we haven't seen since the days of Michael. He sold 15 million albums to date graced almost every magazine cover made his own minimusical movie, and took home three Grammys for Confessions. But where Jackson lost us with his descent into androgyny and eccentric behavior, Usher wowed us with his boyish dimples and ready-for-anything physique.

Most young men (Usher is only 26) would be satisfied. But for Mr. Raymond, great is not enough. He's a perfectionist--everyone will tell you so, from his mother to his producer to his bodyguard, And in the new-millennium world of entertainment, perfection is doing it all. So now, when lie could be kicking back, basking in the afterglow of a fabulous year, Usher is hard at work building himself into an empire. To talk to Usher now means putting aside questions about the drama of his personal life--there just isn't any. Instead of the confused and confessing young superstar of last year, Usher has morphed yet again, this time into an earnest businessman with a strong brand name and an agenda to uplift. Think Oprah with abs.

During our interview (which took four hours in a quiet hotel room, a fast drive down a Los Angeles freeway, and one overseas phone call), Usher refers to himself several times as "green," claiming he's "just getting his feet wet" when it comes to his new business enterprises. But his modesty is belied by the enormity of his ambition. No one but a man supremely confident in his ability to execute would undertake the array of projects Usher's got in mind. Producing and starring in films (the upcoming mob romance Dying for Dolly, in which he stars opposite Chazz Palminteri), co-owning the Cleveland Cavaliers, launching a line of clothing-shoes--cosmetics--watches (he hasn't decided which one he wants to start first) are all in the works. You thought 2004 was Usher's year? Think again.

ESSENCE: You're now co-owner of a basketball team, and there's talk of marketing a clothing line. You're Mr. Entertainment. Why venture into all these other areas?

Usher Raymond: Something you should know about me is that I'm a businessman before I'm anything else. Look at the capabilities of Martha Stewart or Russell Simmons or Sean "Puffy" Combs or Shawn Carter or even 50 Cent with G Unit. Look at what they did with their licensing. This is my opportunity to do the same. Clothing and shoes are kind of the standard nowadays. So I'm trying to figure out how I can come at it from a different angle. Watches, clothes, perfume, cologne, facial and acne products. There are so many possibilities. All of these projects are in the formative stages. But it's early, my dear.

ESSENCE: What about Usher the artist?

U.R.: It's not over. I will come out with an album sometime in the future, maybe 2007. The only music I'm planning to come out with between now and the end of next year are the albums of Us records, my label.

ESSENCE: As a record exec, what are you going to bring to Black music?

U.R.: People turn to music for motivation as well as entertainment, so why not try to put something positive out there? I mean, why not have an artist who people would want to be associated with and follow? Not to say I'm creating role models, but I am attempting to sway music in a direction that's motivating on many levels. So people will say, "I want to move and sound like that artist. How did he get to that? What's the lesson there?" Who knows how people will respond once the music comes out? But it's my responsibility to get it out there.

And it's my responsibility not to promote nonsense. A good time, but not nonsense. So my artists like Rico Love, a rapper, and my group One Chance have a regimen. There will be no lip-synching. They will know how to entertain and sing as well as dance. And they'll know how to speak intelligently when they're being interviewed.

ESSENCE: What do you think about the current state of Black music?

U.R.: So much out there is misleading, but people need something to move to. They listen to it, and it becomes part of their personality and how they deal with life. Treat that woman like a lady. Don't treat her like a ho just because the music says so. Women, treat yourselves like ladies. Don't move like that just because the music says so.

ESSENCE: Let's talk a little about relationships. Your father left the family when you were only a year old, and your mother has been married and divorced three times. How did you learn about men, women and relationships?

U.R.: My grandparents [Nancy and James Lackey, the parents of Usher's mother's second husband] have been together for years. They really taught me "This is a relationship. This is what a man does if he has a family."