The 2024 Dreamville Festival unveiled its lineup with a surprising omission on Thursday (March 7). Fans questioned why Dreamville Records artist Ari Lennox was not part of this year’s event, which is scheduled to take place in North Carolina on April 6-7.
“Some of the biggest names in music will travel to Raleigh in only a few short weeks, bringing about one of the most highly anticipated festivals of the year,” the festival’s president Adam Roy said. “Our team looks forward to welcoming all of our Day One fans from around the world back to Dreamville Festival.”
Lennox’s absence stood out since she was the only member of the Dreamville Records roster missing from the lineup. J. Cole, J.I.D, Bas, Cozz, EarthGang, Lute and Omen were all booked for the two-day festival.
The 2024 Dreamville Festival featured J. Cole, Nicki Minaj, SZA and Chris Brown as headliners. Other performers included ScHoolboy Q, Sexyy Red, Lil Yachty, Jeezy, Monica, Teezo Touchdown, Muni Long and Rae Sremmurd.
Lennox will miss this year’s Dreamville Festival after a rough experience as the opener on Rod Wave’s tour. The R&B singer faced disrespect at the shows, including a fan throwing a water bottle at her. She reflected on her tough times as an opening act on Instagram Live in January.
“It’s one thing to hate me, that’s fine,” Lennox said. “Like you hate me. But it’s another thing to be like ‘Get this b#### off stage,” or like have your little signs or like assault me. It’s just like what is this aggression? Like you’re that p#####?”
She added, “It was just a very hard two and a half f###### months. Very, very, very hard. And very lonely too. But I thought it would be a good idea.”
View some of the reactions to Lennox’s absence from the 2024 Dreamville Festival below.