Richard Preston Butler Jr. (born December 3, 1982), better known by his stage name Rico Love, is an American record producer, songwriter, singer, and rapper. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but split his childhood between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and New York City's Harlem neighborhood. He attended Florida A&M and, while visiting Atlanta, Georgia, worked his way into the music industry through connections with Usher, who would become one of Love's frequent collaborators. The first song Love ever wrote in his career was "Throwback" which ended up on Usher's 2004 album Confessions. Love's success continued writing and producing hit records such as Usher's "There Goes My Baby" and "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)", Nelly's "Just a Dream" and "Gone", as well as Beyoncé's "Sweet Dreams". and has contributed to works which have gone on to win Grammys such as Beyoncé's 2009 Best Contemporary R&B album I Am... Sasha Fierce, Usher's 2010 Best Contemporary R&B album Raymond v. Raymond, and Usher's 2010 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "There Goes My Baby". In addition Love has written and produced records for Kelly Rowland, Diddy – Dirty Money, Chris Brown, Alexandra Burke, Keri Hilson, Fergie, and Fantasia. As a solo recording artist, Love released two studio albums: TTLO (2015) and Even Kings Die (2018). He is also the CEO of Division1, a record label that partnered with Interscope Records in 2013. He has appeared as a featured artist on records with T.I., Usher, Jermaine Dupri, Jamie Foxx, Rich Boy, and Fat Joe. Early life Love was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and his parents divorced at an early age. As a result of the divorce Love spent his childhood growing up in two different cities, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with his mother and Harlem with his father. Love's mother encouraged him as a child to write poetry. Love wrote his own poems and went on to joining the African American Children's Theater where he recited Langston Hughes and acted. Love had already been writing his own poems before he was introduced to rap in his early teens. By the end of high school Love had decided to pursue a career in rap but would go to college simultaneously, "I'm [going] to go to school instead of just sitting on the block. If I hadn't gone to college I would've been a drug dealer." While in college at Florida A&M University Love stayed involved in his