J. Cole has revealed information about the 2025 version of his yearly Dreamville Festival, allowing fans to prepare their schedules and travel arrangements.
The rapper announced on Tuesday, November 26, that J.Cole’s fifth music festival would return to its original location at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh, North Carolina, near Cole’s hometown of Fayetteville. The dates are April 5th and 6th, in the year 2025.
No performances have been revealed for the event’s two-day duration.
Ticket presale begins at 9 AM Eastern on December 11. As stated in a press release, only two-day GA, GA+ and different VIP packages will be available for purchase at that time. Supporters are able to register for early access to tickets by going to dreamvillefest.com.
Cole has also recently made another major announcement, in addition to the Dreamville Festival reveal. He also revealed new collaborations with Kendrick Lamar titled “Temptation” and “Shock the World” that had not been released before.
In his new audio series Inevitable, J. Cole discussed his past music and played the two tracks he collaborated on with Kendrick Lamar in 2010.
In the episode, Cole referred to “Temptation” as “crazy” and remembered sharing beats with K.Dot when they were both up-and-coming rappers.
“Shock the World” also includes singing from BJ The Chicago Kid.
Cole remembered meeting Kendrick at a U-N-I release party in early 2010 in L.A. He saw him on stage, heard him rap, and thought, ‘This guy is really good!’
“He left the stage and I told him, ‘Dude, I really like you.’ You are tough as nails. He said, ‘Hey, I remember meeting you!’ I attended the XXL Freshmen cover shoot in [2010] with Jay Rock.
He stated: “We kept in contact occasionally, and he mailed me some marijuana cigarettes.” When I released ‘Blow Up,’ I recall him saying, ‘Man, I need something like that!’ He was discussing the intensity of the beat.
While I was in Los Angeles, he visited No ID’s studio and we met up. I let him listen to ‘HiiiPoWeR’ beat, ‘Temptation’ with my verse, and a few other tracks with only one verse.
“When I showed them to him, I said, ‘Dude, feel free to take these.'” I recall him saying something that stayed with me because I had never heard anyone speak to me like that before. He was staring at me as if to say, ‘Are you really going to give these to me?’
I said, “Sure, go ahead and take them.” He said, ‘Dude, you’re underestimating yourself.’ It resonated with me because it was the unvarnished truth of my current situation. I was so intent on achieving this unicorn hit for my album that I overlooked the things I did successfully.
Cole did not disclose for which project(s) the songs were initially intended or the reasons behind why they were never officially put out. Kendrick had previously performed both tracks during a 2011 or 2012 in-store appearance.
It remains uncertain if Cole will release “Temptation” and “Shock the World” on streaming platforms like he has done with his latest mixtapes The Come Up and The Warm Up.
