Dreamville Records

Rapper J. Cole founded the label in 2007

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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4][5]

The Dreamville Records logo has been changed in 2014, when the label signed a deal with Interscope

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."[6]

On June 26, 2014, J. Cole officially announced the signing of Los Angeles-based rapper, Cozz.[7] Omen didn't officially sign the Interscope deal until after his debut album in 2015.[8] 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.[9] 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."[10]

On February 20, 2017 Dreamville announced the signing of East Atlanta-based rapper JID to the label.[11] 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.[12][13]

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.[14] 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.[15][16] 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.[17] 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.[18] In April 2020, the album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.[19]

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.[20] The mixtape was released ahead of the second annual Dreamville Festival.[21]

• J. Cole
• Elite[22]
• Omen
• Ron Gilmore[23]
• Cedric Brown[24]
• KQuick (with Fresh2Def as ClickNPress)[8]
• Jay “Kurzweil” Oyebadejo[25][26]
• Meez[27]
• Hollywood JB[28]
• Christo[29]

Studio personnel

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

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."[42]

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."[43] 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.[42]

Dreamville Films, Inc is an American entertainment company founded in 2015 that produces and distributes films. In 2015, they established a distribution deal HBO.[44] They released documentaries J. Cole: Road to Homecoming, Forest Hills Drive: Homecoming, and J. Cole: 4 Your Eyez Only in partnership with HBO.