DJ King Rico bridges the dance floor and the concert hall. He brings a DJ's instinct for the room and a composer's patience for the story, grounded in hip-hop, soul, and house, and he treats every genre as part of one conversation. As a producer, DJ, composer, and music director, he makes records, shows, and worlds where all of it can live at once.

Born in New York City and raised in Virginia Beach, Rico's music started in his grandmother's church, playing tambourine. Piano came first, then saxophone in middle school. After a year at VCU, he switched paths and chose a music production degree at Shenandoah Conservatory over performance, a decision that shaped everything after it: the ear of a classically trained musician and the instincts of a producer and DJ, in one person.

From there he built across the industry. He worked in Artist Relations at DistroKid, became a world finalist in A-Trak's Goldie Awards, and earned recognition from Serato, Pioneer, and Numark for how he approaches DJing and production. In 2023, he co-created and co-composed The Factotum with GRAMMY-winning baritone Will Liverman for Lyric Opera of Chicago, an opera that blends soul, comedy, and hip-hop. In 2024, he won the Splice Grand Prize, which led to mentorship with Stargate. In 2026, he played turntables and piano with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra for the premiere of The Factotum Suite, debuted GANGSTERS!, a full-length musical he composed and music directed, and returned to the 757 to music direct Factotum: The Groom & Glow Lounge, a new work he and Liverman created with students of the Governor's School for the Arts.

Today, Rico is building For Lovers Only Entertainment as the home for all of it: his own releases and live sets, KFTB (Kids From The Beach) with Corey Fonville, the continuing life of The Factotum, and the Share the Codes podcast. The goal is to cultivate rooms where real musicians and young artists can create at the highest level, and to build something that lasts the way Motown did.