NEWS
J. Cole‘s Dreamville Festival has announced its 2023 return and has revealed what might be its best lineup yet.
Dreamville Festival will return to Raleigh, North Carolina’s Dorothea Dix Park on April 1 and 2. Cole had previously teased the lineup announcement by calling it “the hardest festival lineup ever” on Twitter.
And he didn’t seem to be joking, as Usher is set to headline the Saturday, which will include additional performances from Ari Lennox, Lil Durk, City Girls, Sean Paul, Jessie Reyez, EarthGang and others.
As for Sunday, J. Cole and Drake will close out the festival with a historical dual performance, while the likes of Burna Boy, GloRilla, J.I.D, Summer Walker, Bas and Waka Flocka Flame will also hit the stage.
Tickets are available on the official Dreamville Festival website. Check out the full lineup below:
This year’s Dreamville Festival marks just the third rendition of J. Cole’s musical event. The festival was supposed to kick off in 2018, but was canceled due to Hurricane Florence. Complications struck again in 2020 and 2021 when it was forced to take a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic..
Dreamville Festival came back in full force in 2022, though, with performances from Cole, Lil Baby, Kehlani, Moneybagg Yo, J.I.D, Ja Rule, Ashanti, Wale, T-Pain and others. Lil Wayne, Jeezy and T.I. also joined forces for a star-studded Gangsta Grillz set hosted by DJ Drama.
Drake and Cole’s relationship has been cordial for years now, despite the pair having only worked together twice on 2011’s “In the Morning,” off Cole’s debut LP Cole World: The Sideline Story, and 2013’s “Jodeci (Freestyle).”
Meanwhile, Cole might have Drake to thank for his professional basketball career. After Cole signed with Canadian Elite Basketball League’s Scarborough Shooting Stars last year, Complex reported that Nicholas “Niko” Carino, co-owner of OVO and part-owner of the Shooting Stars, was introduced to Cole at a birthday party hosted by the 6 God.
“You know, Dreamville and OVO are family,” Carino said. “Drake had a birthday party in L.A. last year. The conversation was, ‘I heard you have your team.’ It organically grew from there.”
Lizzo has made it clear that she never abandoned her album Love in Real Life.
The “Juice” artist recently responded to rumors that the project had been cancelled after fans expected it to arrive last year. Rather than putting out the album at the time, Lizzo instead released the mixtape My Face Hurts From Smiling in June.
During a new conversation with Billboard, the “Truth Hurts” singer explained that the album itself was never scrapped and is still the same body of work she plans to release on June 5 under its new title, B**ch.
“I think the biggest misconception about my album is that I shelved Love in Real Life when I didn't,” she said. “(B**ch) is technically the same album. I just changed the name. The music is the same.”
Lizzo shared that the main difference between the earlier version of the project and the upcoming release was taking away the original title track, which eventually led to the album being renamed.
“When you change the name of something, it changes its destiny,” the singer explained. “Like, when I went from Melissa to Lizzo, it changed my destiny.”
“When this album went from Love in Real Life to Bch, it changed the trajectory of its past,” she continued. “I do think that I feel like I can express myself the way that I want to express myself right now through Bch. I think Love in Real Life was really sombre and a little bit more introspective, and I think B**ch is a little bit more empowered and self actualised and bold.”
Before the newly titled album arrives, Lizzo has already released the singles B**ch and Don’t Make Me Love U.
The artist had previously spoken about stepping away from Love in Real Life during an earlier interview with Vulture, saying the project “just wasn't what I was feeling right now”.
She also mentioned that much of the album had originally been written back in 2022.
“By 2025, I've changed, the world has changed so much, and so much has happened,” she said. “I was like, ‘I need to do s**t differently, and I don't know what it is, but I'm going to just start following my instincts.’”
