J. Cole Speaks On Dreamville-Interscope Deal

J. Cole made headlines two night ago when he dropped a new mixtape featuring his Dreamville family, announced a new deal for his Dreamville imprint with Interscope Records and brought out Jay Z & Kendrick Lamar at his MSG show.

Kendrick Lamar Shakes Up The Super Bowl With Bold Drake Diss And Surprise Guests

Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl 59 halftime performance was nothing short of legendary, leaving fans buzzing with surprise cameos and bold moments that took his long-running feud with Drake to new heights. Kicking off with an unreleased song snippet and followed by “Squabble Up” from his latest album GNX, Kendrick immediately set the tone for a game-changing performance. Fans eagerly waited to see if Kendrick would play his diss track Not Like Us, especially with Drake's ongoing lawsuit against him and his label for defamation and harassment. Lamar's performance included an unexpected appearance by SZA and a quirky cameo from Serena Williams, along with Samuel L. Jackson’s comedic interruptions, all building the suspense around the Drake drama. In the middle of his performance, Kendrick turned up the heat, looking straight into the camera and directly addressing Drake with his famous lyrics, “I heard you like them young," as fans held their breath. Despite the tension, Kendrick censored himself when it came time to call Drake a "certified lover boy" and avoided saying “pedophile,” which had been widely speculated. Social media lit up with mixed reactions, with some fans mocking the performance as a "mid mashup" and others noting the intense hostility toward Drake. With the hashtag #KendrickBowl trending, it’s clear that Kendrick’s performance was a cultural moment that pushed boundaries—but has he gone too far, or is this just another chapter in hip-hop history? Only time will tell, and Drake has yet to respond.

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Now in an interview with Forbes, Cole has talked about the deal with the label that has superstars like Dr. Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent and Kendrick Lamar.

“We provide the artist, the direction, the guidance, the music, the new ideas, and they provide muscle and years of experience of really giving artists the proper push. We hope to add to the list of legendary albums that were made over in that building.
As an executive it gives me the opportunity to sign acts and break them, but as a producer it allows me to produce someone’s entire album and put it out – that’s what I really look forward to. It’s definitely a path that’s been made possible by the Dr. Dres and the Jay Zs – these guys who had amazing artistic ability in terms of rapping and production and song writing, but also had a double-sided executive mind.
That’s why we love what Beyoncé did. Those are the type of things that excite us – this new business model.”

Says Interscope’s president of urban music, Joie Manda:

“Dreamville celebrates the sort of grass roots, out-of-the-box approach to connecting artists to their fans that can help move the music industry into the future.”