Ari Lennox wants to be a free woman.
The “Pressure” singer certainly felt it from her record label and has now accused them of neglecting her in a scathing post on her Instagram account. Mainly, Lennox seems unhappy with the way Dreamville handled the release of her latest song, “Smoke,” and now wants to make things right with the label.
“I wish I had a record label so I wouldn’t have to come out here explaining why I need to promote, why I need to promote my record. […] You can’t expect an artist to be anything without promotion. Like, you can’t. You can’t. Why do I apply for advertising? Why do I pay for my own Google ads? No, that’s not okay,” he began the post.
She said to resolve the issue, it would be as simple as the record label removing her from their artist roster.
“So I just want to be released, and it’s as simple as that. And I’m tired of being nice, and I’ve been trying to do everything the right way, but now I’m f— ed. This is mine.” Ultimately, I was communicating effectively and no one cared, so now here we are in the toxic world of social media, or this is how I decided to express myself in a toxic way. I don’t know how else to get over people’s stupid heads. Like, stop playing with me,” Lennox continued.
She noted that she enjoyed writing her new song, “Smoke”, but the label passed on her and they would not promote her new song at all.
“I like making music. I loved every moment of creating ‘Smoke’. That was my freedom song, and I dropped it, and the record company dropped me. […] Dreamville is actually telling me straight up that they don’t believe in advertising, they don’t believe in Google ads. What do I do with that information?” Lennox elaborated.
Ari Lennox just made an Instagram post saying she wants out of her contract with Interscope/Dreamville for marketing reasons pic.twitter.com/8AK38r8f13
– Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) October 30, 2024
This is not the first time Lennox has expressed dissatisfaction with Dreamville. She expressed her desire to be removed from them in 2022 when she received backlash for a bad interview.
During an interview with the Johannesburg-based podcast Podcast And Chill, host Mac G took a line from Ari’s own song “Pop” to ask “Is someone doing you okay right now?” This caught Lennox off guard and she later regretted her choice of words in response.
“Why do you ask like that?” she answered through Uproxx.
Online critics mocked her for being too sensitive and many blamed her own image for the profane question. This prompted Lennox to respond to the backlash, saying she wanted to be dropped from her label.
“I want to be taken off the label. I’m tired and weary,” she said, according to Uproxx.
Lennox is currently signed to Interscope through J. Cole’s Dreamville Records.
Tags Ari Lennox, J. Cole