FIRST LISTEN: Leslie Odom Jr. Covers Jazz Classic 'Nobody Knows You' on Debut Album

HAMILTON star and Tony nominee Leslie Odom Jr's self-titled debut album drops on June 10th on S-Curve Records. (Check out cover art at left!) Today, Billboard has shared an exclusive first listen to Odom's cover of the jazz classic "Nobody Knows You (When You're Down and Out)" Check it out HERE!

"It's been nearly 15 years in the making," Odom tells Billboard of the project. "I've realized along the way that a lot of things that I do as a performer are about waiting for somebody to write something for me or develop something for me, but music, music was the thing that I don't have to wait for anybody's permission to do...Once I realized that, the album came out the fast track and I got really clear about what I would want to parlay an opportunity like this into."

Odom, who portrays Aaron Burr in the hit Broadway hip-hop musical, explains how the show's success has enabled him to complete projects that have been long in the making. "As you can see with my music, as you can see with Daveed [Diggs'] music, these are things that we've been doing our whole lives. These are things that we've been dedicated to for years and years, that nobody cared about. And so what [Hamilton] does is that it allows us to get some things to the forefront, it allows us to make some art now that people are hopefully going to care about. That's all you want as artist. So the fact that the fans love the show in the way that they do and that love has extended to each of us and that love extends to the outside projects that we do, it doesn't get any better."

Click here for more information on the album

Leslie Odom, Jr. was nominated for a 2016 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his role as Aaron Burr in HAMILTON. Select theatre credits include Hamilton (Public Theater); tick, tick...BOOM! (City Center Encores!), Leap of Faith (Broadway), Rent (Broadway). Select TV/film: "Law & Order: SVU," "Gotham," "Person of Interest," "Supernatural," Red Tails, and "House of Lies."