# Dreamville Records

Dreamville Records is an American record label founded by American rapper J. Cole and his manager Ibrahim Hamad. The label is currently distributed through Interscope Records, a unit of Universal Music Group. The roster includes Bas, Ari Lennox, Cozz, Omen, Lute, JID, EarthGang, and Cole himself. Dreamville also houses American record producers Elite, Ron Gilmore, and Cedric Brown.

## History
### 2007–2012: Formation and early years

During the compositions of The Come Up, Cole started his own record label in early 2007 with current Sudanese-American label president Ibrahim Hamad. Cole and Hamad met while attending St. John's University. Cole sought for an avenue to release his own music, while Hamad yearned to start a record label, prompting the two to team up to form Dreamville Records. Rapper Omen has been affiliated with Dreamville since the beginning, Omen and Cole met on rapper Canibus chat forum at age 17, where they shared music. Omen was also featured on Cole's mixtapes, The Warm Up (2009) and Friday Night Lights (2010). In 2011, Dreamville was associated with rapper Voli and alternative rock band StartYourOwnRebellion, while Dreamville was still in early formation as a vanity label imprint.

### 2013–2014: Revenge of the Dreamers

On January 28, 2014, at a show at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Cole announced that his Dreamville imprint had signed a distribution deal with Interscope Records. Attendees at the show received a flyer announcing the deal and a mixtape, titled Revenge of the Dreamers. On the same day, Cole announced the signing of Queens-based rapper, Bas. Cole spoke with Billboard about the Interscope deal saying: "We've been dreaming about a label situation for years." "The deal's been official since late December, and we'd been working on it for a while before that, but it felt too important to just go out and yell it right when it happened. It needed a more grand announcement." Cole explained that talks with Interscope began when Joie Manda, Interscope president of urban music, reached out to him in 2013, Cole said: "I thought he wanted me to produce someone over there and I was excited about that, but then he told me that he really believed in me as an executive, a label CEO and a producer. A Dr. Dre to his Jimmy Iovine. He had the vision."

### 2014–2016: Revenge of the Dreamers II

On June 26, 2014, J. Cole officially announced the signing of Los Angeles-based rapper, Cozz. Omen didn't officially sign the Interscope deal until after his debut album in 2015. On December 8, 2015, Dreamville released a collaborative album titled, Revenge of the Dreamers II, officially announcing two new label signees, Charlotte rapper, Lute and Washington D.C. singer Ari Lennox. In an interview with the Rap Radar Podcast, Ibrahim Hamad broke down the self-sufficiency of the artists on the label saying: "I like letting them figure out what their path is. I look at it like, because we learned what we learned from Cole being signed, what I like to do is [say] ‘what is your vision, and let us help you’. I don't ever want to tell an artist no you can't do that, that's not fair to them."

### 2017–2020: Revenge of the Dreamers III

On February 20, 2017 Dreamville announced the signing of East Atlanta-based rapper JID to the label. On August 31, 2017 Dreamville also announced the signing of EarthGang, a hip hop duo consisting of Atlanta-based rappers Olu (Johnny Venus) and WowGr8 (Doctur Dot – born Eian Parker). Both EarthGang and JID had previously toured with Bas and Omen prior to signing to the label.
On January 6, 2019, Dreamville announced a 10-day recording session in Atlanta for the label's third compilation album Revenge of the Dreamers III, ending on January 16. During the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dreamville held multiple events scheduled for the weekend, starting with an exclusive limited edition merchandise pop-up shop, a Dreamville brunch, and a private concert featuring the artists on the label taking place after the All Star game. On July 5, the label's third compilation album was released to critical acclaim and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 115,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. The album earned nominations for Best Rap Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards, while "Middle Child" and "Down Bad" were nominated for Best Rap Performance. In April 2020, the album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

### 2021–present: D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape and Creed III: The Soundtrack

On March 31, 2022, Dreamville released D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape featuring guest appearances from 2 Chainz, ASAP Ferg, Young Nudy, Kenny Mason, Sheck Wes, G Perico, and Reason. The mixtape was released ahead of the second annual Dreamville Festival. In 2023, It was confirmed that Dreamville will be the primary artists to the soundtrack album to the sports drama film Creed III.

## Artists
### Current artists

| Act | Year signed | Releases under the label |
| J. Cole | 2007 (founder) | 9 |
| Omen | 2009 | 1 |
| Bas | 2013 | 8 |
| Cozz | 2014 | 4 |
| Lute | 2015 | 2 |
| Ari Lennox | 2015 | 5 |
| JID | 2017 | 4 |
| EarthGang | 2017 | 3 |

### In-house producers

* J. Cole
* Elite
* Omen
* Ron Gilmore
* Cedric Brown
* KQuick (with Fresh2Def as ClickNPress)
* Jay “Kurzweil” Oyebadejo
* Meez
* Hollywood JB
* Christo
* JID

#### Studio personnel

* Juro "Mez" Davis (mixing and audio engineer)

## The Dreamville Foundation

In October 2011, Cole established The Dreamville Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization "created to 'bridge the gap' between the world of opportunity and the urban youth" of Cole's hometown of Fayetteville, North Carolina. The foundation conducts philanthropic activities with the aid of volunteers, such as providing school supplies to students. The Foundation also launched a book club for young men and sponsored "The Nobody's Perfect Writing Contest and Mother's Day Brunch". It sponsors an annual weekend of Fayetteville community events called the "Dreamville Weekend" that features a discussion with the Young Men's Book Club, an appreciation dinner, and a career day panel with African-American professionals in a variety of fields.
In 2014, Cole purchased his childhood home in Fayetteville, North Carolina, for $120,000 through the Dreamville Foundation. The home had been repossessed from his mother years earlier while Cole was attending college in New York. His plan is to turn the house into a homestead for single mothers and their children, where they will be able to live rent-free. In 2017 NFL player Colin Kaepernick donated $32,000 to fund multiple projects for the organization.
In September 2018, the Dreamville Foundation unveiled a new initiative to aid victims of Hurricane Florence in Fayetteville, NC. According to the foundation's website, donated funds will go toward "hot food stations placed throughout the city, temporary housing options for families, and stocking of food pantries/shelters", as well as local charities that provide services to Fayetteville residents.

## Dreamville Festival

On April 27, 2018, J. Cole announced the Dreamville Festival, the festival featuring local music, culture, food and art, and also include a mix of up-and-comers and national acts. It is expected to be an annual festival. However, in the wake of Hurricane Florence, the event was postponed from its original date. The festival was rescheduled and held at the historic Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 6, 2019. The lineup included all of Dreamville's artists as well as SZA, Big Sean, Nelly, 21 Savage, 6LACK, Davido, Teyana Taylor, Saba, Rapsody, and Mez. The Dreamville Festival plan to donate proceeds to the Dorothea Dix Park Conservancy and the Dreamville Foundation. The festival sold out with a capacity of 40,000 people to become the largest event in Raleigh. Ibrahim Hamad remarked on the festival saying "We're not like other companies that are based in a city. Our label is very much an idea, more so than an actual physical place. So you can create it and take it everywhere. To bring that into the festival—where you can just create a place and make it Dreamville and be able to bring people there—was always this cool goal. And that's what makes it unique. It's not based in an actual city. It's just based in our minds."
For the 2020 season, the Dreamville Festival is front-of-jersey sponsor for USL Championship soccer team North Carolina FC. The second annual festival was initially slated for April 4, 2020 however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed and eventually cancelled. The festival went on at Dix Park as scheduled in 2022, with the dates of April 2–3, its first year being held for two days. The lineup was announced on March 2, a month prior to its commencement, and again included all Dreamville artists, as well as Fivio Foreign, Kehlani, Lil Baby, and Wizkid (Day 1), and Lil Wayne with Jeezy and T.I. as part of DJ Drama's "Gangsta Grillz", Moneybagg Yo, and T-Pain (Day 2). The attendance across the two days totaled 80,000, making it one of the most attended music events in North Carolina history. In addition, the event created an economic impact of $6.7M.
The event returned to Dix Park from April 1-2, 2023 and featured all Dreamville artists, as well as special guests Usher, Drake, Burna Boy, Sean Paul, and more. A concert representative reported that the event was sold out with an estimated attendance of 100,000.

## Subsidiaries
### Dreamville Ventures

On October 12, 2020, Dreamville announced the formation of Dreamville Ventures, a multi-disciplinary media company. Damien Scott is leading the division as president with Candace Rodney as executive vice president, overseeing daily operations including verticals across music, TV and film, publishing, apparel and live events. In a press release with Variety, Cole said: "Dreamville has always been a mom-and-pop operation with grand ambitions and ideas that extend far beyond music. The hiring of Damien and Candace not only expands our family business with two of the smartest and most capable executives in the industry, but allows us to take a massive leap towards turning those big ideas into reality."

### Dreamville Studios

On October 12, 2020, Dreamville Studios was launched, a content studio that will produce original and co-produced content, with Candace Rodney who serves as president of Dreamville Studios. Ibrahim Hamad said in a press release: "Dreamville is a brand we built from the ground up and the appointments of Damien and Candace allows us to take the company to levels we’ve always dreamed of while keeping our core values and beliefs at the forefront of our expansion." Candace Rodney previously worked as senior vice president of development at Wilmore Films, as well as positions at Sony Pictures Television, Lionsgate Television and Creative Artists Agency.

### Dreamville Films

Dreamville Films, Inc is an American entertainment company founded in 2015 that produces and distributes films. In 2015, they established a distribution deal HBO. They released documentaries J. Cole: Road to Homecoming, Forest Hills Drive: Homecoming, and J. Cole: 4 Your Eyez Only in partnership with HBO.

## Discography
### Studio albums

| Artist | Album | Details | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Certification |
| Artist | Album | Details | US | US R&B/HH | US Rap | Certification |
| J. Cole | Born Sinner | Released: June 18, 2013 Label: Dreamville, Roc Nation, Columbia Format: CD, LP, digital download | 1 | 1 | 1 | RIAA: Platinum |
| Bas | Last Winter | Released: April 27, 2014 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: CD, digital download | 103 | 18 | 13 | |
| Cozz | Cozz & Effect | Released: October 3, 2014 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: CD, digital download | 160 | 31 | 17 | |
| J. Cole | 2014 Forest Hills Drive | Released: December 9, 2014 Label: Dreamville, Roc Nation, Columbia Format: CD, digital download | 1 | 1 | 1 | RIAA: 3× Platinum |
| Omen | Elephant Eyes | Released: June 21, 2015 Label: Dreamville Format: CD, digital download | – | – | – | |
| Bas | Too High to Riot | Released: March 4, 2016 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: CD, digital download | 49 | 7 | 6 | |
| J. Cole | 4 Your Eyez Only | Released: December 9, 2016 Label: Dreamville, Roc Nation, Interscope Format: CD, LP, digital download | 1 | 1 | 1 | RIAA: Platinum |
| JID | The Never Story | Released: March 10, 2017 Label: Dreamville, Interscope, Spillage Village Format: CD, vinyl, digital download | 197 | – | – | |
| Lute | West1996 pt. 2 | Released: September 29, 2017 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: CD, digital download | – | – | – | |
| Cozz | Effected | Released: February 13, 2018 Label: Dreamville, Interscope, Tha Committee Format: CD, digital download | – | – | – | |
| J. Cole | KOD | Released: April 20, 2018 Label: Dreamville, Roc Nation, Interscope Format: CD, LP, digital download | 1 | 1 | 1 | RIAA: Platinum |
| Bas | Milky Way | Released: August 24, 2018 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: CD, digital download | 35 | 19 | 17 | |
| JID | DiCaprio 2 | Released: November 26, 2018 Label: Dreamville, Interscope, Spillage Village Format: CD, digital download | 41 | 21 | 17 | |
| Ari Lennox | Shea Butter Baby | Released: May 7, 2019 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: CD, digital download | 67 | 38 | – | RIAA: Gold |
| EarthGang | Mirrorland | Released: September 6, 2019 Label: Dreamville, Interscope, Spillage Village Format: CD, vinyl, digital download | 40 | 22 | 20 | |
| Spillage Village (with JID & EarthGang) | Spilligion | Released: September 25, 2020 Label: Dreamville, Interscope, SinceThe80s Format: CD, vinyl, digital download | 141 | – | – | |
| J. Cole | The Off-Season | Released: May 14, 2021 Label: Dreamville, Interscope, Roc Nation Format: CD, LP, digital download | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Lute | Gold Mouf | Released: October 4, 2021 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: Digital download | – | – | – | |
| EarthGang | Ghetto Gods | Released: February 25, 2022 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: Digital download | 114 | – | – | |
| JID | The Forever Story | Released: August 26, 2022 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: Digital download | 12 | 8 | 6 | |
| Ari Lennox | Age/Sex/Location | Released: September 9, 2022 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: Digital download | 69 | 36 | – | |
| Bas | We Only Talk About Real Shit When We're Fucked Up | Released: December 15, 2023 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: Digital download | – | – | – | |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |||||||

### Live albums

| Artist | Album | Details | Peak chart positions |
| Artist | Album | Details | US |
| J. Cole | Forest Hills Drive: Live | Released: January 28, 2016 Label: Dreamville, Roc Nation, Columbia Formats: CD, LP, digital download | 71 |

### Compilations

| Artist | Album | Details | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Certification |
| Artist | Album | Details | US | US R&B/HH | US Rap | Certification |
| Dreamville | Revenge of the Dreamers | Released: January 28, 2014 Label: Dreamville Format: Digital download | – | – | – | |
| Dreamville | Revenge of the Dreamers II | Released: December 8, 2015 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: CD, digital download | 29 | 4 | 3 | |
| Dreamville | Revenge of the Dreamers III | Released: July 5, 2019 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: CD, LP, digital download | 1 | 1 | 1 | RIAA: Platinum |
| Dreamville | D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape | Released: March 31, 2022 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: Digital download | 11 | 6 | 4 | |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |||||||

### Soundtrack albums

| Artist | Album | Details | Peak chart positions |
| Artist | Album | Details | US |
| Dreamville | Creed III: The Soundtrack | Released: March 3, 2023 Label: Dreamville, Interscope Format: Digital download | 127 |

### Extended plays

| Artist | Extended play | Details |
| J. Cole | Truly Yours | Released: February 12, 2013 |
| J. Cole | Truly Yours 2 | Released: April 30, 2013 |
| Bas | Two Weeks Notice | Released: April 15, 2014 |
| Ari Lennox | Pho | Released: October 21, 2016 Chart positions: No. 20 U.S. R&B |
| Dreamville | 1-888-88-DREAM | Released: June 12, 2019 |
| Dreamville | ROTD3.COM | Released: July 1, 2019 |
| Bas | Spilled Milk 1 | Released: August 9, 2019 |
| Ari Lennox | Shea Butter Baby (Remix EP) | Released: March 27, 2020 |
| J. Cole | Lewis Street | Released: July 22, 2020 |
| Cozz | Fortunate | Released: December 2, 2021 |
| Bas | [BUMP] Pick Me Up | Released: April 15, 2022 |
| Ari Lennox | Away Message | Released: August 31, 2022 |
| EarthGang | EarthGang Vs The Algorithm: RIP Human Art | Released: September 22, 2023 |

### Mixtapes

| Artist | Mixtape | Details |
| J. Cole | The Warm Up | Released: June 15, 2009 |
| J. Cole | Friday Night Lights | Released: November 10, 2010 Chart position: No. 7 U.S. |
| Bas | Quarter Water Raised Me Vol. 2 | Released: May 26, 2013 |
| Cozz | Nothin Personal | Released: January 4, 2016 |
| J. Cole | Might Delete Later | Released: April 5, 2024 |

### Singles

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album |
| Title | Year | US | US R&B/HH | US Rap | CAN | NZ Hot | Certifications | Album |
| "Down Bad" (with J. Cole, JID, Bas & EarthGang featuring Young Nudy) | 2019 | 64 | 26 | 22 | 69 | 10 | RIAA: Platinum RMNZ: Gold | Revenge of the Dreamers III |
| "Got Me" (with Ari Lennox & Omen featuring Ty Dolla Sign & Dreezy) | 2019 | — | — | — | — | — | RIAA: Gold | Revenge of the Dreamers III |
| "LamboTruck" (with Cozz featuring Reason & Childish Major) | 2019 | — | — | — | — | — | | Revenge of the Dreamers III |
| "Costa Rica" (with Bas & JID featuring Guapdad 4000, Reese LAFLARE, Jace, Mez, Smokepurpp, Buddy & Ski Mask the Slump God) | 2019 | 75 | 30 | — | 71 | — | RIAA: Platinum RMNZ: Gold | Revenge of the Dreamers III |
| "Bussit" (with Ari Lennox) | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | | Revenge of the Dreamers III: Director's Cut |
| "Still Up" (with EarthGang featuring Reason) | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | | Revenge of the Dreamers III: Director's Cut |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |||||||||

### Other charted and certified songs

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album |
| Title | Year | US | US R&B/HH | US Rap | CAN | Certifications | Album |
| "Under the Sun" (with J. Cole and Lute featuring DaBaby) | 2019 | 44 | 18 | 16 | 72 | RIAA: 2× Platinum RMNZ: Platinum | Revenge of the Dreamers III |
| "Sacrifices" (with and EarthGang and J. Cole featuring Smino And Saba) | 2019 | — | — | — | — | RIAA: Platinum RMNZ: Gold | Revenge of the Dreamers III |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. ||||||||