Credit: Ramel Bocker / Respect Mel Shooter Media
Five years…that’s how long multi-platinum selling artist Jermaine “J. Cole” Cole and his Dreamville imprint organized one of the largest live music festivals in the country. Not only that, but they did it in one of the most unsuspecting places—Raleigh, North Carolina. The Raleigh metro area, also known as “The Triangle”, is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country. Still, it isn’t exactly on the map in terms of entertainment and culture especially in terms of Hip-Hop and R&B. Despite this, a reported 104,000 people were in attendance for the fifth & final Dreamville Festival.
Official Dreamville Fest 2025 act list. Courtesy of: Dreamville Records
Dreamville offered two stages for fans in attendance; The Rise stage, nestled into a natural bowl, and the larger Shine stage on the opposite end of the park to the north. (Real fans know the significance of those names.) The intent was for fans to move between sets and allow time for set up. We’ll get to that later…
Now to the acts. Honestly, the women took the crown for this final go. Tems, Coco Jones, Keyshia Cole, and Glorilla brought the energy and show(wo)manship. Unfortunately the queen mother Erykah Badu was second to last behind Cole and no one wanted to leave their piece of earth to get closer to her on the Rise stage. Shout out to the event staff for outstanding sound production and screens across the park for those who wouldn’t take the risk. The stand out set would be the Cash Money Records reunion at the end of Day 1. Not going to lie, it brought a little tear to my old eyes to see Wayne on stage with BG, Turk, Juvenile, Birdman, and Mannie Fresh. With all the rumors surrounding relationships and money at least that was put aside for the show. With that said, can we please put the super bowl conversation to rest?
In addition to the acts, there were dozens of tents for food and beverages, a ferris wheel, and even pseudo multi-level day clubs complete with security. The atmosphere was chill with no known violence, people were respectful even with the madness of the immense heat and close proximity of others. There were a few beverage shortages so at times it seemed like a mission just to get a soda or alcohol. Let’s chalk that up to the volume of people in attendance.
And then there was Cole…
The time between Tems’ set and Cole coming on stage felt like an eternity. Erykah could be heard and I certainly was hurt to be missing her set but I couldn’t risk my spot. My time in the Army certainly helped with the hour stand in place as the stage was assembled.
Cole came out to some sound technical difficulties but, like the true emcee he is, ran it back starting with a very smooth and timely rendition of “Rags to Riches”, the outro to his very first mixtape, “The Come Up”. The stage design was set up to take the crowd on a journey from Cole’s room in “Mohammed’s crib” all the way to the present.
This performance was tailored to the fans who had been with him in his formative rap years. He detailed the journey from of moving to NYC, creating music, and becoming the artist he is today. He told a story about signing with Jay-Z (more about meeting Beyonce more than anything else) which led into most fan’s formal introduction on Blueprint 3’s “A Star Is Born”. Cole wasted no time addressing the elephants is the room—his relationship with Kendrick, Drake, and gave gratitude to Kanye West despite his fall from grace as of late. Fans were treated to what most anticipated—Erykah Badu gracing the stage to perform “Too Deep for the Intro” with Cole for the first time ever. This may have been the most intimate of a performance from Jermaine. Considering the rumors of Cole’s next album, The Fall Off, being his last this felt like the beginning of a farewell to not just Dreamville but Cole himself.
Cole also revealed that although this version of the festival is ending it’s legacy will live on for the foreseeable future. Dreamville will embark on a joint venture with live music giant Live Nation starting next year.
Check out the gallery below for more photos.
