Dreamville Records is having a banner year—and it's only March. Mere days after
J. Cole announced the lineup for his annual
Dreamville Festival—including headliners Cole,
Drake,
Burna Boy and
Usher—the little North Carolina label that could has released
Creed III: The Soundtrack (
Dreamville/
Interscope), for which it also served as executive producer.
The track list boasts an array of Dreamville artists, including
JID,
Lute,
Bas,
Ari Lennox and, of course,
Cole. The company has also announced an upcoming album by Bas and unveiled a collaboration with apparel company
Daily Paper.
Ibrahim "IB" Hamad, Dreamville co-founder and Cole's manager, is understandably savoring the imprint's success. "It’s been a good week for the Dreamville family," he told us. "It’s all thanks to the people in this company who work to bring these moments to life for our fans. Shout-out to
Michael B. Jordan and his team for the opportunity to allow Dreamville to help bring its vision to life with the music in the film. Also, thanks to my dawg
Sascha [
Stone Guttfreund of
ScoreMore] and his team for helping us bring this festival to life every year by helping us book the hardest lineup and produce such an incredible experience for the fans who come all the way to North Carolina to enjoy this amazing weekend.”
Dreamville partner and festival President
Adam Roy echoed Hamad's sentiments, adding, "It’s been nonstop for the brand. The energy is incredible. The apparel collab with Daily Paper
to our first film soundtrack in
Creed III and now we're bringing it all home with the lineup of the year for the Dreamville Festival."
Founded in 2007, Dreamville started as a way for Cole to get his debut mixtape,
The Come Up, off the ground. After seven years of pouring their blood, sweat and tears into the label, Cole announced in 2014 that he and Hamad had inked a deal with Interscope. Since then, Cole has blossomed into one of hip-hop's preeminent MCs, while Hamad continues to thrive as an exec.
The Dreamville Festival kicks off 4/1 at
Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh. Tickets are available
here. Meanwhile, listen to the
Creed III soundtrack below. We'll be over here hoping nobody wants to punch
us after visiting this site.
