Ari Lennox has officially parted ways with Dreamville Record which is the label founded by J. Cole, after publicly demanding her release and expressing deep dissatisfaction with her treatment.
The singer, who joined Dreamville in 2015, voiced her frustrations in a candid Instagram Live session in October 2024. She criticized both Dreamville and its parent company, Interscope, for neglecting her career and failing to provide adequate support for her music. Lennox cited the mishandling of her single “Smoke” as a pivotal moment, alleging that the label ignored her request to remove the music video and failed to promote the track effectively .
In her emotional rant, Lennox stated, “I just want to be released, and it’s that simple,” expressing exhaustion from feeling manipulated and unprotected by the industry NME. She also revealed that she had resorted to funding her own Google ads due to the label’s lack of promotional efforts thesource.com.
The announcement of her departure has been met with support from fellow artists, including T-Pain and Kehlani, who empathized with her situation and offered guidance on navigating the challenges of the music industry HipHopDX.
As of now, Dreamville and Interscope have not publicly responded to Lennox’s statements.
