Photo Credit: Ari Lennox by Justin LaMotte / CC by 4.0
Ari Lennox parts ways with J. Cole’s Dreamville Records months after ranting about the label on social media.
Back in October, R&B singer Ari Lennox aired her various grievances with Dreamville on social media, demanding her release from the label. Now, she has officially (and quietly) parted ways with the company, and will now be releasing music solely through Interscope Records.
“I’m so tired. Where do I f—ing start? My heart’s beating so fast,” Lennox began her post in October. “I don’t know what else to do. I try to do things the right way and no one takes me seriously. And so we’re here on social media. Again. I’m trying to be respectful, but I feel played right now.”
She continued: “I told management I didn’t want the ‘Smoke’ video to come out because I’m tired of people treating me like I’m the face of mental health. I’m tired of people treating me like they’re so sorry for me. I’m a human being who has been very transparent about my life and it’s just weird how everyone gets really agitated.”
“The whole point of the ‘Smoke’ video was to take back every fucking negative thing people have said about me and to try to own that shit and be like, ‘Fuck y’all,’” she added. “People are hellbent on portraying me as an insecure person who is just the face of mental health.”
At the time, Lennox asserted that Interscope and Dreamville refused to comply with her request to remove the music video for “Smoke.” She also called out a lack of promotion for the song and described the whole incident as “the last straw.”
“I changed my mind about releasing this video and I told management and I told the label and they told me they would take it down,” she said. “Apparently, the people in charge of the video were unresponsive but thy’re like, ‘Everyone loves the video so we’re gonna keep it up.’ No, you are not going to manipulate me. Y’all are gonna be accountable for that, Interscope. I told you I wasn’t comfortable with it and I wish I had a label that cared and wanted to protect me. I just wanna be released. It’s that simple.”
Earlier this month, Ari Lennox performed at J. Cole’s final Dreamville Festival, thanking him and the label for helping make her dreams a reality back in 2015 when she was first signed. This week, she released the video for her latest single, “Soft Girl Era,” on which Interscope is listed as the sole label credit. According to TMZ, the split was amicable.
