Yes, it’s finally here. After a bittersweet announcement in the Fall, Dreamville Fest just delivered the roster for their final show, marking a true “end of an era” moment for North Carolina’s premier music festival. Let’s get into some of the highlights.
Who Is On The Register For Dreamville Fest 2025?
If the headliners are anything to go off, celebrating the 2000s is a significant focus for this year’s edition. Reuniting Lil Wayne with his Hot Boys brothers and the Big Tymers, marking an earnest and complete revival of the Louisiana sound that’s as influential as ever, takes the cake in that regard. However, including icons like Ludacris, Keyshia Cole, and, believe it or not, Erykah Badu provides plenty of fuel for that fire.
Of course, the eponymous label does a great deal in filling out the roster. Arguably the label’s two biggest names head up the festivities on Sunday when J Cole and J.I.D. take the stage, but talents like Ari Lennox, Bas, Lute, Omen, Cozz, and EarthGang are all present as well.
Finally, Dreamville Fest partially furnishes the rest of its lineup with some familiar faces from the label’s overall oeuvre, tabbing 21 Savage, Young Nudy and Ab-Soul for featured spots. For more conventional festival stage talent, Glorilla, Tems, Coco Jones, BigXThaPlug, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and Chief Keef will all additionally be in attendance.
Why Exactly Is The Show Coming To An End?
While the books are always above our pay grade as the listening audience, from reading the tea leaves, it seems like there’s more than sheer business behind this decision. For one, Cole’s soft step into the podcasting space with his audio series, focused on recapping his career to date for the 10th anniversary of his third studio album, signals that the Fayetteville rapper’s industrial ventures are still very much an interest.
Additionally, news of the final Dreamville Fest comes at a time when the space continues to see far more artists starting their own ventures than exiting the vertical. Jack Harlow’s Gazebo Festival, H.E.R’s Lights On, and Amine’s Best Day Ever join more everlasting endeavors like Drake’s OVO Fest, Tyler, The Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw and The Roots Picnic as headliners in the category. For completion’s sake, note that there are some cases to the contrary: the short-lived nature of Pharrell’s Something In The Water is the most glaring.
Whether it’s shortly after the final Dreamville Fest performance or in the months following, we’ll surely get more info regarding the decision to end it after just five editions at some point down the line. For now, secure your tickets via the official site. Dreamville Festival 2025 runs from April 5th to April 6th.
