Rico Beats Co-Managed Pop Smoke and Built Hits From Roman Reloaded to Tell the Vision
Ricardo LaMarre, known as Rico Beats, is a Brooklyn producer and executive who built a major-label catalog from Soulja Boy's "Mean Mug" through Nicki Minaj's "Roman Reloaded" and Pusha T's "Exodus 23:1" before co-managing Pop Smoke with Steven Victor. His Victor Victor and Universal credits include co-production on Pop Smoke's "Hello" with A Boogie wit da Hoodie (Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon deluxe) and "Tell the Vision" with Kanye West and Pusha T (Faith), both albums debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Kazi is stamping him because his production and management work shaped chart-topping releases with named receipts spanning the 2010s into the drill era.
THE SOUND
A Rico Beats production lands through weight and clarity rather than gimmick. He made "Roman Reloaded" in roughly fifteen minutes on Ableton, per Complex interviews, chasing aggressive 808 patterns and trap hi-hats built for Nicki Minaj's alter-ego energy. On Pusha T's "Exodus 23:1," he pulled from Biggie samples to deliver the dark back half Push asked for in one session. The through-line is functional intensity: drums and bass carry the threat, samples and brass show up when the artist needs menace, not decoration.
That discipline scaled from 2010s pop-rap ("Mean Mug" on Soulja Boy's The DeAndre Way) to 2020s drill without Rico chasing trend cycles. Where other producers pushed Brooklyn drill toward melodic luxury, Rico's Pop Smoke placements like "Sweetheart," "Armed N Dangerous," and "Hello" kept the bounce taut and vocal-forward. He produces from the executive chair too. Co-managing Pop Smoke with Steven Victor meant shaping albums that went No. 1, not just dropping one-off instrumentals.
THE RECEIPTS
Rico Beats' verified production ledger starts with Soulja Boy's "Mean Mug" (The DeAndre Way, 2010). Nicki Minaj's "Roman Reloaded" featuring Lil Wayne anchored Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012), an album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Pusha T's "Exodus 23:1" and "40 Acres" (2013) sit in his catalog. DJ Khaled's "Take That Off" and Iggy Azalea's "Comme des Garçons" (In My Defense, 2019) extend the runway into the late 2010s.
The Pop Smoke chapter is where management and production overlap publicly. Rico co-managed the rapper with Steven Victor, per Universal and Victor Victor reporting, and holds production credits on Meet the Woo 2 cuts like "Sweetheart" and "Armed N Dangerous (Charlie Sloth Freestyle)." On Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon (No. 1 Billboard 200, July 2020), he co-produced "Hello" with CashMoneyAP. Faith (No. 1 Billboard 200, July 2021) credits him on "Tell the Vision" alongside Kanye West and Pusha T, plus tracks Genius lists under his name including "AP," "30," and "More Time."
On the numbers Kazi could verify: both Pop Smoke posthumous albums debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded opened at No. 1 in 2012. We are not inventing Hot 100 peaks for every Rico credit here. "Roman Reloaded" and "Exodus 23:1" built cultural weight even where chart metrics were secondary. What is documented is a producer-executive with major-label infrastructure and a discography you can open on Genius and Wikipedia track by track.
WHY KAZI APPROVED
Kazi is putting the stamp on Rico Beats because the receipts are named and major-label backed: "Mean Mug," "Roman Reloaded," "Exodus 23:1," "Comme des Garçons," and the Pop Smoke run from "Hello" to "Tell the Vision" on two Billboard 200 No. 1 albums. He is not an underground stalwart waiting for discovery. He is a Brooklyn producer who helped steer Pop Smoke's Victor Victor rollout while keeping his own Ableton fingerprints on the records. Open the credits, then judge the stamp.