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Usher Collaborator Rico Love Calls Kelly Rowland's 'Motivation' 'Truly Organic'

Lil Wayne 'jumped on it,' Raymond v. Raymond writer tells Mixtape Daily.
By Alvin Blanco, with reporting by Rob Markman


Rico Love
Photo: TTLL

Behind the Beats: Rico Love

If more people read the credits behind some of R&B's biggest hits, Rico Love should be a household name. Born Richard Preston Butler Jr., the former Florida A&M University student is now one of the music industry's most-sought-after singer/songwriters.

After writing hits for Usher ("There Goes My Baby"), Beyoncé ("Sweet Dreams") and Diddy-Dirty Money ("Hello Good Morning"), to name a few, one of Rico's biggest hits to date is Kelly Rowland's "Motivation."

"It came about in a truly organic way," Rico told Mixtape Daily of the Jim Jonsin-produced "Motivation." "We had this meeting in New York: myself and Sylvia [Rhone] and Kelly. And they just were saying, 'We need to find that single; we need that big single.' Everybody was asking for an uptempo, actually.

"I flew down to Miami the next day, and that Tuesday, we got back in the studio, and Jim started playing these chords, and then coming up with these little sounds — the signature sounds that Jim comes up with. I just told him to lay it like a skeleton idea, and I jumped in the booth, and I started with the verse, and I kind of sang my way all the way through the record."

Rowland, formerly of Destiny's Child, was in the studio while Rico was laying down the reference track and made her regard for the song known immediately. "Kelly was there and watched the whole process," Rico recalled. "As soon as I finished singing the demo, usually an artist wants to live with it or listen to it for a little while. She just said, 'I want to cut it right now.' So she jumped in the booth, and we cut the record."

"Motivation" became the lead single for Rowland's third album, Here I Am, which was released in April. The song, which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, features a verse from Lil Wayne.

"Lil Wayne got out of jail a few days later, and as soon as he got out of jail, [Rowland] went to see him, and he jumped on it," Rico explained. "It was the most organized situation ever. It was nothing contrived about it."

There's been nothing manufactured about Rico's accomplishments either. Starting his musical career as a rapper, he has signed former Roc-a-Fella rapper Young Chris to his Universal/Motown-distributed Division 1 label.

After leaving Florida A&M to pursue music, Rico caught the attention of Usher, and penned songs for the R&B singer, including "Throwback." Other artists soon benefitted from his songwriting, including T.I., Pleasure P and Mario. Rico takes pride in being versatile with his talents, preferring not to make specific songs intended for specific artists only.

"Sometimes, when you keep an artist in mind, you'll limit yourself," Rico explained. "You won't go a place that they probably would go because you're thinking, "Nah, she wouldn't say this," or "He wouldn't do this," or "He wouldn't say this," and "This melody is out of the way for them."

"When I get a chance to just get into the studio and just write music and just produce music and sit at the piano and tell a guy where I want to hear the chords and create the progressions and just freely make music, it's a lot more fun."

Lately, Rico has been back in the studio with Usher. In 2007, he was signed to the singer's former US Records via J Records. But his debut album was never released, and he and Usher went their separate ways.

But as Rico become a songwriting force, the two eventually started working together again. The first song they recorded was the Grammy-winning "There Goes My Baby" from 2010's Raymond v. Raymond. Now, Rico is working on Usher's forthcoming album and embracing the pressure of surpassing its predecessor's platinum sales and critical success.

"I feel like this is what separates the boys from the men," Rico said of working with Usher. "This week, we been creating records together. We had two mics, two headphones set up in the booth, and we just sit there and vibe out.

"These first few days have been amazing. We got four records cut so far that sound super amazing. I'm super excited about it. I'm just anxious for the world to hear it."

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1667790/rico-love-kelly-rowland-motivation.jhtml

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Michelle Williams in 'My Week with Marilyn' Trailer

Michelle Williams in 'My Week with Marilyn' Trailer

Channeling Marilyn Monroe is no easy task, although plenty of contemporary stars have tried. (Remember Lindsay Lohan's naked-Marilyn photo shoot?) Well, now it's Michelle Williams' turn -- and in the new trailer for My Week With Marilyn, we can see that her portrayal of the iconic actress is actually jaw-droppingly good.

Watch below!


The film, which comes out on Nov. 4, is based on the incredible true story of Colin Clark (played by Eddie Redmayne), who met Monroe in 1956 while working as a production assistant on the London set of The Prince and the Showgirl. Monroe was at the height of her fame, addicted to pills, newly married to playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott), and at odds with her costar Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branaugh). Overwhelmed and lonely, Monroe befriended Clark and even escaped with him to the English countryside for a brief vacation (the "week" of the movie's title). While their relationship was platonic, Clark fell in love with the actress and went on to write two books about their time together.

Even though this is Clark's story, the movie clearly belongs to Michelle Williams, 34, as Marilyn. Williams, an Oscar nominee for Brokeback Mountain and Blue Valentine, won the role over stiff competition (including the more bombshell-esque Scarlett Johansson). Even though she's no glamour girl, Williams is an incredible actress who never seems like she's "acting." The role of Marilyn is essentially two roles -- the onscreen persona of Marilyn, and the authentic Norma Jean -- and it's clear from the trailer that Williams has nailed them both. There's definitely another Oscar nomination in her future, and perhaps the third time's the charm!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/michelle-williams-my-week-marilyn-trailer/1-a-388910

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Electric Daisy Carnival Brings 2012 Party Back To Vegas

Insomniac's 16th annual EDM festival will take place June 8-10, 2012.
By Gil Kaufman


The Electric Daisy Carnival
Photo: Getty Images

Las Vegas has plenty of classic blinking-light distractions, and one of the brightest, loudest new attractions to blaze across the city's famous skyline has re-upped for another year: The Electric Daisy Carnival will return to Vegas in 2012 for another three days of EDM madness over the June 8 weekend.

After abandoning Los Angeles this summer, the 16th annual Carnival will touch down June 8-10 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with three-day passes going on sale November 1 for $215.

More than 230,000 people attended this year's event, which featured such dance giants as David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, Skrillex, Afrojack and Wolfgang Gartner.

"When [show producer] Insomniac decided to produce EDC in Las Vegas last June, we knew we were working with the ideal venue, but we weren't sure how our fans would react," Insomniac President and CEO Pasquale Rotella said in a statement announcing the return to Vegas.

"But after seeing more than 230,000 people show up to enjoy our show, we knew we picked a city and venue that serves as the perfect home for the largest electronic music festival in North America."

The first Las Vegas edition of the show proved to be a spectacle perfectly suited to the desert getaway's glitz and won the Festival of the Year award at September's 2011 DJ Awards in Ibiza. Fans were treated to not only sweaty days and nights of the best EDM music on the planet on six stages, but also such attractions as carnival rides, nightly drop-ins by glowing parachutes, daytime pool parties at hotels all along the Strip, 13 large-scale art installations, full fireworks displays and baller helicopter rides that whisked VIPs to and from the festival grounds.

VIP tickets for the 2012 Carnival will start at $500, and a special pre-sale event will take place at Insomniac's debut Halloween festival, Escape from Wonderland, on October 29 in San Bernardino, California.

Are you planning to attend the 2012 Electric Daisy Carnival? Tell us below!

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1672141/electric-daisy-carnival-2012-las-vegas.jhtml

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Kelly Rowland Covers November 2011 Cosmopolitan UK, Says She Hasn't Seen Her Daddy In 20 Years

Kelly Rowland is red hot on the cover of the November 2011 issue of Cosmopolitan UK.  We've got her boob & leg baring pics, plus what she had to say about being single and her estranged father, inside....

 

 

The "X-Factor UK" judge is making her presence known across the pond.  She's the November covergirl for Cosmo UK.  And Ms. Kelly's rocking black quilted design leather shorts, a red bra, and a black cropped jacket with red piping, for her cover shot.

The 30-year-old single lady dished about being ready for marriage, and what Beyonce asked her about her former (2005) engagement (to NFL baller Roy Williams):

"Before, I'd want to lean on somebody.  Now I love the fact that I can just be a single lady, chilling and hanging with my friends, and travelling the world.  It's a pretty good life. I'm ready for marriage when the right time comes now, though."

"I remember my sister B [Beyonce] asked me one question: she said, ‘Well, you know what you want now, don’t you?’ and I was like ‘Yes’."

"It was so hard and embarrassing because everyone knew. I’d posed for the front cover of a magazine in my wedding dress and it was on sale! But sometimes you fall down and you learn from it."
 

And remember all the ish Kelly's father, Christopher Lovett, was talking in the media over the summer about not being able to see his daughter?  Her response in the mag:

 

'I haven’t seen my dad for almost 20 years. It’s nothing I want a pity party for. He left me and my mum, and I was angry. I wanted to be a daddy’s girl so bad. God damn The Cosby Show because that made me think "Why aren’t my family like that?" But this is not a perfect world.'

'He reached out to me saying he wanted to see me, but it’s unfortunate he did it so publicly. I want to meet him, and soon, I really do. I forgave him a long time ago.'

'Me and my mum didn’t see eye to eye for a while.  I would see how close my girlfriends were to their mothers and it bothered me.'
 

 

And she also reveals that she still loves her new boobies:

"I said in an interview a long time ago that I'd get it done because I just had little nuggets for boobs and it was bothering me."

"The decision was 10 years in the making so I'm comfortable talking about it. It's something I really wanted to do for myself - not for a man, not for work, for myself...and I love them!"

As for the British men and their trousers (and co-judge's Gary Barlow's booty) that she loves so much, the "Motivation" singer who also dons a long sexy red dress inside the mag said:

 

"Oh, have you seen how cute they wear their pants [trousers]? All neat and tight. British men are so charming! I love the accent and how they open doors for you - well at least the ones I've met so far do!"

"With all due respect to [Gary's] wife, her husband has the nicest little hiney I have ever seen. Every time he gets up to get a drink of water I'm like, 'Oops!' [Does comedy butt-perv mime.] But it's his smile too. He's very genuine. I love a person who is straight to the point."

Looking fab Kelly!

The issue hits stands October 10th.

Source: http://theybf.com/2011/10/07/kelly-rowland-cover-november-2011-cosmopolitan-uk-says-she-hasnt-seen-her-daddy-in-20-yea

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