Established by rapper J. Cole, Dreamville Records is the most exciting collective in music currently. After releasing a collaboration mixtape at the end of 2022, Dreamville now soundtracks the revered new movie “Creed III.”
Considering what this group has done in the past decade, it is hard not to be in awe.
Members
To start, Dreamville has a deep roster of talented creatives. The founder, J. Cole himself, has been a staple in the rap community for over a decade, releasing classic albums and winning a handful of awards in that time.
Following him, Atlanta rapper JID is seen as a future star in hip-hop, already having over 20 million monthly listeners.
Ari Lennox is another great addition to the label, one of the leading sounds of rhythm and blues who has accumulated fame from projects like “Shea Butter Baby” and “Age/Sex/Location.”
Other members include the talented Earthgang, Bas, Lute, Omen, and Cozz.
Music
Not including their solo work, Dreamville has produced some of the best collective projects of this generation. The best of their work, “Revenge of the Dreamers III,” featured hit songs such as “Under the Sun,” “Middle Child," "Costa Rica,” and “Down Bad.”
Other collaboration projects include two other installations of "Revenge of the Dreamers," "D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape," and multiple singles.
More recently, the group collaborated with Michael B. Jordan and the rest of the Rocky franchise to soundtrack “Creed III.” Similar to the rest of their work, this project is high-quality and collaborative.
Festivals
The label also went above and beyond by hosting an annual Dreamville festival in Raleigh, North Carolina. Since starting in 2018, the Dreamville Festival has been one of the largest events in the state and has become a huge positive as it draws some of the best artists from hip-hop, R&B, and more recently, afro-beats.
As a Black-owned music festival, it has become a diverse cultural hotspot that hosts independently-owned businesses, muralists, merchants, and other organizations
As it takes place in J.Cole’s home state, he uses this opportunity to shine a light on the area.
For 2023’s upcoming festival, artists such as Drake, Burna Boy, Summer Walker, and Usher will join the Dreamville team for the two-day event.
Summary
Of course, this label is active in many other ways, for example, the Dreamville Foundation or even sports and apparel collaborations. In the history of hip-hop, there have been few collectives or labels to sustain this type of success.
With a young and growing roster and an innovative leader like J. Cole, Dreamville will continue to be one of the best in the music industry.
