MEAWW.COM / ENTERTAINMENT / MUSIC

J. Cole announces second edition of Dreamville Music Festival after stupendous success of inaugural outing in 2019

The annual festival will be coming back home to Raleigh, North Carolina on April 4, 2020

Jermaine Cole knows all about the power of dreams. Back in 2013, the chart-topping hip-hop rapper and producer J. Cole announced an annual tour called 'Dollar And A Dream,' where fans willing to pay one dollar were treated to tracks from his early work.

That's because J. Cole never forgot about his humble beginnings. Before the hard-working artist was signed by Jay-Z's Roc Nation label at the tender age of 24, he was being swamped in mounting college debt - but he still clung on to one singular dream - of making it big one day.

It might be impossible to fathom now, but a mere 10 years ago, before earning five straight number-one albums on the Billboard charts, J. Cole was just one of many up-and-coming aspiring rappers with a mixtape on a college campus. But thankfully that college, New York's St John’s University, is where he met his future manager and lifelong friend, Ibrahim “IB” Hamad. It was Hamad who recognized J. Cole's potential and kept pushing him to follow his dreams. And after J. Cole was famously signed to Roc Nation after Jay-Z heard the track 'Lights Please' prior to the release of his second mixtape, 'The Warm  Up,' his star just kept rising. And he's never looked back since. Unless it's been to lend a helping hand to the place where he grew up, North Carolina.

Things finally came full circle on April 27, 2018, when the multiple AMA and BET award-winning artist announced the first edition of the Dreamville Festival in his home state of North Carolina, which would feature local music, food, and culture, along with a mix of up-and-coming artists and popular national acts.

Named after his own label, Dreamville Records, the annual festival is not the first time Cole has chosen to give first-aid to his community. He also founded the non-profit Dreamville Foundation in 2011, which gives back to urban youth in his hometown of Fayetteville and creates programming to help them be successful. 

Although the first edition of the festival had to be rescheduled in the wake of Hurricane Florence, it was eventually held at the historic 300-acre Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 6, 2019. The lineup included all of Dreamville Records' artists as well as SZA, Big Sean, Nelly, 21 Savage, 6LACK, Davido, Teyana Taylor, Saba, Rapsody, and Mez.

The Dreamville Festival plans to donate all proceeds to the Dorothea Dix Park Conservancy and the Dreamville Foundation.

And now, at long last, it has finally been announced that the second outing of the Dreamville Music Festival will be held on April 4, 2020.

Although full line-ups have not yet been announced, the much-awaited return of the Dreamville festival is definitely going to be a legendary event. It's the stuff dreams are made of. Get your pre-sale tickets here.