Apr 27, 2025 at 2:48 AM

https://www.ebony.com/ari-lennox-dreamville-departure-rumors-label-changes/

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 8:39 AM

Different levels. I feel sza music appeal to a larger crowd. Ari fanbase is urban black women… sza done reached mainstream. She got fans of different races and backgrounds. Plus she got a machine behind her. Ari Lennox is like on Ella Mai level , ain’t nothing wrong with that lol. Everybody not meant to blow up. Ella Mai signed to dj mustard, it seems like she is content with where she is at within the industry

signing directly to a label is not always a good thing, dreezy had signed directly to interscope and she never blew up, now she off the label and is independent, she said they ain’t do right by her..

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 9:06 AM

How it should be.. back when they signed that deal with interscope , that was the standard within the industry, labels signing joint ventures with bigger labels.. bad boy with Arista, cash money with republic or death row with interscope, but by the end of the 2010s and coming into the 2020s the industry changed.. it’s a lot of independent distribution companies, gamma, empire, united masters etc they are the way to release music now, and it give the artists more freedom it seem.. that interscope deal been dead. Only one of dreamville that I can see being good with that dreamville interscope deal is jid , the rest should be independent ive been said that.. even ari should be independent off interscope. And tbr at this point cole should be independent too lol , he big enough , and done established his career , he shouldn’t be signed to a major, Nas not signed to a major, he release through mass appeal only, I’m pretty sure he got a distribution deal with one of them independent companies tho. Cole promotion might take a hit, but at this point who cares?? He good, it ain’t like interscope super promoting his s--- now anyway.. their priority it seems is kdot, cole need to separate from them, do his own s---

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 9:15 AM

And come to think of it, that’s probably why cole ain’t released the album yet, maybe he trying to get his s--- right behind the scenes.. seem like they done got all the artists on dreamville right, they all off interscope, now got to figure out his situation.. if that’s the case, I say take your time..

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 2:42 PM

Cole basically is independent he has a licensing deal with Interscope, which is essentially a partnership.

Licensing deals are different to record deals. He has been licensing his music since 2016, when he got his masters. First he granted an exclusive license to Roc Nation for 4YEO, KOD & TOS. Then he entered into a licensing deal with Interscope for MDL & beyond, 'Got a new deal, just ran a train on a label' - Fever.

Additionally Cole's relationship with Interscope seems even stronger because they now share the rights to the albums that were owned by Roc Nation & Columbia TSS, BS & 2014FHD. These are by far his most lucrative work.

He & Interscope are locked in.

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 3:03 PM

Hmmm. I guess.. still don’t see the benefit of it. Pretty sure it’s a benefit for cole, but I don’t see why let a record company own your music , when you can just release it yourself lol , but idk the industry ins and outs. Basically I don’t see what interscope doing for cole career, his career seemed better on Columbia and roc nation tbr , but maybe he won’t getting as much money with them.. idk im just on the outside looking in lol

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 3:39 PM

Basically, if I released music, I wouldn’t want no label hands in s--- I do.. nothing, we done heard too many stories of these record companies jerking n----s, why the h--- would I sign any kind of deal with them? Don’t make sense lol, s--- got to make sense.. cole said he ran a train on the label… is he capping?? We know cole like to cap in his raps a lil bit, so cole telling me he got over on interscope? Shiidddd Maybe.. even if they getting a small percentage, I wouldn’t even want them getting that, yall don’t be in the studio putting the work in with me, f--- yall lol that’s what I’m saying. How is it dudes around my way releasing music on streaming with no major label behind them???

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 3:56 PM

The benefit is alot of munyun lol.

That's the thing Interscope don't own Cole's music. Cole is the rights holder & he gives license to Interscope to exploit & earn from his work for a set period. I think Interscope share in the rights to TSS, BS & 2014FHD (Cole World/Interscope Records), Roc Nation & Columbia owned those albums so maybe they acquired the rights back together. But those are the only parts of Cole's music that they share in the rights.

Cole just entered into a direct licensing agreement with Interscope on MDL so we haven't really seen the extent of their promo in Cole's career so far. I imagine they're gonna go crazy promo wise with TFO.

As far as Cole's career seeming better when it was Roc Nation/Columbia I think alot of that is his own doing tbh. He was a new artist so ofcourse he got a push and he had certain obligations. But after FHD he got more withdrawn and moved at his own pace.

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 5:57 PM

Is this Ibrahim??

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 6:49 PM

@Uncle Luke ... h--- nah lol. Like you said we just outsiders lookin in so we can't really know the intricacies. But alot of this stuff isn't really hidden information just industry standard practices & Cole saying it in an interview or rappin bout it.

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 7:59 PM

I was just f---ing with you lol

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 8:16 PM

Wasn’t The Fall Off almost here this time a year ago? Cole talked about that album nonstop this time last year and now, Dreamville Fest passes without an even a whisper?

Kendrick and Drake have literally got this dude muzzled. It’s really remarkable…

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 8:27 PM

Yeah, I think Cole managed to piss them both off — Drake felt betrayed when Cole didn’t have his back, and Kendrick just looks at Cole as weak and corny between his antics pandering to Drake and cowering to Kendrick so quickly after releasing 7 Minute Drill.

Cole is a great rapper, but he’s completely lost credibility over the last year with the way he’s carried himself. So sad.

 

Apr 27, 2025 at 8:38 PM

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Cole could have done the Andre 3000, ignored the situation, and just kept on making the music that he wanted to make.

Instead, his complete lack of self-awareness led him to fire on Kendrick, retract the diss in fear, and spend about a year and counting on mute.

 

Apr 28, 2025 at 12:18 AM

Saw someone mention this Podcast on Reddit. They're cryptically talking about Cole dropping @ 3:45 - 10:00. Apparently Cole was supposed to drop but it looks like it got pushed back by a week for whatever reasons. Notice they said "he just wants peace and to rap his a--- off"...we know who they're talking about. Not to mention those lil cole text messages that randomly went out a couple days ago.

 

Apr 28, 2025 at 12:32 AM

 

Apr 28, 2025 at 1:21 AM

What lil cole texts?

 

Apr 28, 2025 at 1:29 AM

Similar to the messages they were sending out right before MDL dropped.