Dreamville

Now That J. Cole Is A Professional Basketball Player, He’s Even Getting His Own ‘NBA 2K’ Cover

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J. Cole’s hoop dreams have been well-documented, but I don’t know if even he thought he’d get this far. After playing professionally for two different teams — one in the Basketball Africa League and one in the Canadian Elite Basketball League — he’s achieved many a hoop star’s ultimate dream of appearing on the cover of NBA 2K. That’s right, the latest edition of the long-running basketball simulation video game, NBA 2K23, will be released with a special Dreamer Edition cover featuring none other than Mr. Dollar And A Dream himself, J. Cole.

Cole is also set to appear in the game’s popular MyCareer story mode and as a playable character model, harkening back to the days when players could dunk on opponents with the likes of Nelly and the St. Lunatics in NBA Street Vol. 2 (hopefully, this just means we’re one step closer to Cole, Drake, and Kendrick appearing in a reboot of Def Jam: Fight For NY). Cole’s longtime partners and fellow Dreamville artists Bas and Elite will apparently also appear in the story mode to help the player earn the rapper’s respect. Naturally, there’ll be plenty of Dreamville representation on the soundtrack, which has always featured the hottest contemporary artists in hip-hop — a box Cole and crew certainly check.

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In a statement, Cole says, “NBA 2K has long been a place to discover new musical talent through their game and continues to be a gold standard for showcasing all things basketball culture. It’s been an amazing journey to not only appear on a cover of this year’s game but to be part of the MyCAREER storyline, and soundtrack and bring the Dreamer brand into NBA 2K.

NBA 2K23 is out September 9. The Dreamer Edition will be available at Gamestop in the US and Canada, then presumably on StockX or some other third-party site for double the price.

J. Cole Shares A Message From Ari Lennox Detailing Her New Album, ‘Age/Sex/Location’

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Millennials and Gen-Xers have been reeling over the title of Ari Lennox‘s upcoming album, Age/Sex/Location. Named for an introductory question often used in the chatrooms of the ’90s and early aughts, Age/Sex/Location represents a time in Lennox’s life where she feels she wasn’t being her authentic self.

Ahead of the album’s release next Friday, Lennox’s Dreamville label founder J. Cole shared a message from Lennox explaining the experiences from which she drew for the songs on the album.

“I asked Ari what this new album means to her,” said Cole in the caption of the post. “I needed to know cuz I f*ck with it so heavy. What I hear is the highs, lows, joys and pains of dating life in 2022. But her answer made it even deeper for me. Appreciate you @arilennox Looking forward to the rest of the world hearing it.”

In her message, Lennox said the album represents “Transitional space. Very vulnerable codependent and validation seeking part of my life,” she wrote. “I remember the countless times I was kicked out of dating apps because they didn’t think I was really myself, it reminded me of those age/sex/location days where I actually wasn’t being myself in those chat rooms.”

Elsewhere in her message, Lennox explained that she is at a point in her life, in which she is “Allowing accountability and maturing. Allowing growth to happen. Allowing self worth and self love and inner work to happen. Allowing therapy. Allowing dating me to happen. Doing things I like to do whenever I want.”

Age/Sex/Location is out 9/9 via Dreamville/Interscope. Pre-save it here.

SOURCE SPORTS: Talen Horton-Tucker Wins MVP in Championship of Dreamville Chi-League

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The Chi-League of Dreamville This past Saturday, the Powered by Wilson pro-am basketball tournament celebrated its winners at the Chicago Credit Union 1 Arena at the University of Illinois. Team C.A.S.H. won the men’s championship, and Team That Harper Kid won the women’s championship for the second time in a row.

Saturday’s Dreamville Chi-League championship game The men’s and women’s championship matches of Powered by Wilson pitted Team E’Twaun Moore against Team C.A.S.H. and Team Chaos against Team That Harper Kid, respectively.

Khaalia Hillsman of Team That Harper Kid won the game’s M.V.P. award after scoring 11 of her game-high 21 points in a dominant fourth-quarter performance that helped her team defeat Team Chaos 81-72.

With a 123-99 victory over Team E’Twaun Moore, Team C.A.S.H. easily won the men’s title thanks to the game M.V.P., Talen Horton-Tucker, who scored 25 points, and 23 points each from Jabari Parker and Bobby Portis.

Other noteworthy performers included Linnae Harper (Team That Harper Kid, 22 points), DJ Steward (24 points), Stefhon Hannah (22 points), and Damien Jefferson (21 points) from Team E’Twaun Moore (Team Chaos, 16 points). In addition to the game, Wilson conducted a special basketball clinic for Y.M.C.A. kids with Chris Brickley, a prominent trainer on the Wilson advisory staff. The Dreamville Chi-League Powered by Wilson donated $20,000 to the Y.M.C.A. of Metropolitan Chicago to cap off the event.

You can see images from the championship game below.

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The post SOURCE SPORTS: Talen Horton-Tucker Wins MVP in Championship of Dreamville Chi-League appeared first on The Source.

Here’s Everything To Know About JID’s Upcoming ‘The Forever Story’ Album

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This Friday, Dreamville-signed Atlanta rapper JID will release his third studio album, The Forever Story, four years after the release of his last solo album, DiCaprio 2, and five after his debut, The Never Story. In the meantime, we’ve seen JID’s star rise with his participation in releases from Dreamville such as the 2019 group compilation Revenge Of The Dreamers III and the Gangsta Grillz mixtape D-Day earlier this year, and the 2020 Spillage Village group album Spilligion. Now, The Forever Story is on the way to solidifying his ascent, cementing him as a superstar.

In the lead-up to the album, JID has released two main singles, “Surround Sound” featuring 21 Savage and Baby Tate and “Dance Now” with Kenny Mason. However, he also released an unofficial single, “2007,” which was left off the album due to sample clearance issues. When he shared the song, he revealed that it was originally the outro and is key to understanding the album’s narrative and themes. Later, he revealed the album’s tracklist — at first, with only the producer credits, then again with all the features included. The album’s guest artists are 21 Savage, Baby Tate, Ari Lennox, Earthgang, Eryn Allen Kane, Johnta Austin, Kenny Mason, Lil Durk Lil Wayne, Mustafa The Poet, Ravyn Lenae, and Yasiin Bey.

The Forever Story is out on 8/26 on Dreamville/Interscope. You can get it here and see the full tracklist below.

1. “Galaxy”
2. “Raydar”
3. “Dance Now” Feat. Kenny Mason
4. “Crack Sandwich”
5. “Can’t Punk Me” Feat. Earthgang
6. “Surround Sound” Feat. 21 Savage & Baby Tate
7. “Kody Blu 31”
8. “Bruddanem” Feat. Lil Durk & Mustafa The Poet
9. “Sistanem”
10. “Can’t Make You Change” Feat. Ari Lennox
11. “Stars” Feat. Yasiin Bey
12. “Just In Time” Feat. Lil Wayne & Kenny Mason
13. “Money”
14. “Better Days” Feat. Johnta Austin
15. “Lauder Too” Feat. Ravyn Lenae & Eryn Allen Kane

JID Shares His ‘The Forever Story’ Tracklist, Which Is Packed With Surprise Features

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JID’s third album, The Forever Story, is less than a week away from release. Naturally, it’s a perfect time to share the album’s tracklist. However, it looks like the Atlanta rapper wants fans to focus on checking out the music rather than worrying about guest stars. So, the tracklist he posted on his social media feeds only shows the guests we already know from the previously released singles “Surround Sound” (21 Savage, Baby Tate) and “Dance Now” (Kenny Mason). It also cleverly has the title of the removed outro song “2007” crossed out.

Being especially tuned into the musicality of his production though, JID does choose to highlight the beatmakers that participated in the album’s completion. Along with JID’s go-to producer Christo, The Forever Story also includes production by 2One2, Aviad, Badbadnotgood, Benji, Cardiak, Childish Major, DJ Khalil, DJ Scheme, Groove, Hollywood Cole, James Blake, JD Beck, Monte Booker, Thundercat, and more. As far as those guest features are concerned, it’s probably safe to assume that at least some of them will be members of his Dreamville and Spillage Village families. It’ll be fun to see who the obscured names belong to, especially after JID theorized that “bigger artists” are “scared” to work with him. Did any of them rise to the challenge? I suppose we’ll see this Friday.

The Forever Story is out 8/26 on Interscope/Dreamville. You can presave it here. Check out the tracklist below.

1. “Galaxy”
2. “Raydar”
3. “Dance Now” feat. Kenny Mason
4. “Crack Sandwich”
5. “Can’t Punk Me”
6. “Surround Sound” feat. 21 Savage & Baby Tate
7. “Kody Blu 31”
8. “Bruddanem” feat. ???
9. “Sistanem”
10. “Can’t Make You Change” feat. ???
11. “Stars” feat. ??? & ???
12. “Just In Time” feat. ??? & ???
13. “Money”
14. “Better Days” feat. ???
15. “Lauder Too” feat. ???
16. “2007”