For the past five years, the Dreamville Festival has been more than a music event in Raleigh — it’s been a cultural phenomenon.

Since Fayetteville-based rapper J. Cole hosted the inaugural show in 2018 with headliners SZA, Big Sean and 21 Savage, the festival in Dix Park has brought some of the biggest names in music to the city, while also showcasing local talent.

Now, as Dreamville enters its fifth and final year, fans and locals alike are reflecting on what this event has meant to them — and what Raleigh will look like without it.

A road to connections

The first concert Alexia Heath ever attended was to see J. Cole perform.

So when Cole held the first Dreamville Festival, the Fayetteville native hopped in the car and headed for Raleigh.

“I just remember being kind of in awe,” said Heath, 24. “It was definitely a different tier of execution and production and bringing people together.”

Many music festivals are out of reach for young people who need to pay for tickets, travel and other expenses. Coachella in California can cost upward of $1,000. Dreamville tickets are around $400, and for young North Carolina natives like Heath, more attainable.

Now living in Raleigh and about to attend her fifth Dreamville, Heath guides others on everything they need to know: from booking hotel rooms, where to go out in Raleigh, where to park, how much shuttles cost, to what to wear or pack in their bags. Her TikTok videos have reached up to 60,000 views.

Last year, she hosted her “Road to the Dream” event at the Cornerstone Tavern on Glenwood Avenue so people could mingle before seeing big artists perform.

“I met people from Arizona, California, literally all over and it was just so shocking because I not only remember this being a one-day festival but I couldn’t really comprehend people flying specifically here for this,” she said. “I ran into so many people last year at the festival who were, like, ‘Oh my God, I watched your videos.’”

For fans coming to Raleigh for the April 5-6 festival, Heath has three instructions:

Attend rapper Lute’s GoldMouf Garage event the Friday before the festival
Keep an open mind about meeting new people
Support the lesser-known performers

“It’s bittersweet, but I’m excited for this one,” she said.

A nod to the city’s DJs

Dreamville Festival feels like a homecoming, said Jamari Cortez, also known as DJ JamxliVe.

“I would argue that this is the biggest event that happens in North Carolina outside of the State Fair,” he said. “Dreamville is used as a space to bring people across North Carolina together and it’s more than that. … It just feels like a safe space for people to not only go see the artists they love, but also hang out and just be reunited with everybody that they haven’t seen and care about.”

Cortez, 27, a local DJ who performs at parties, weddings and events across the Triangle, said music is a universal language.

Each year, he creates Dreamville-themed playlists, adding to his collection and connecting with people through music on social media. One year at the festival, Cortez remembers a small area between the big performance stages dedicated to local DJs, a new intentional aspect of the festival that “separated Dreamville from other festivals.”

“It really motivated me to hone in on my craft,” he said. “It was just dope to see that local DJs had a platform at Dreamville. ... It’s one thing to have huge artists that rock the crowd and get people going, but the small things on the ground level are just as important.”

The arts community in the Raleigh-Durham area has grown over the past five years, Cortez said, and while Dreamville is leaving, spaces like Raleigh’s House of Art will continue to nurture people’s love for music and creativity.

“Of course, it’s not on the same level as Dreamville at the moment,” he said, “but I’m confident that it will get to that level eventually through community building, working together and supporting each other.”

A countdown to fun

Since Feb. 25, Lawrence Whitfield has been counting down the days until Dreamville’s final festival.

Every day, he posts a short video online with his predictions for the festival and tips for people planning to go.

“If it gets zero comments, zero likes, I’m still going to do it,” Whitfield said. “So far, I’ve met so many people. There’s a Facebook page for Dreamville and I post on there, and that has people from all around the world and they comment and hit my (direct message) and ask me questions.”

In one video, Whitfield, 31, took viewers to his hometown of Fayetteville and visited places that Cole uses in his music, including Terry Sanford High School, where the rapper graduated from and drew inspiration for his “Friday Night Lights” mix tape.

Whitfield remembers going to a roller skating rink in Fayetteville where Cole used to work and hang out with friends.

“Now he’s a multi-platinum rapper and he’s pulled together some of the biggest artists to come perform in the state,” Whitfield said. “Before 2019, we would get a concert here and there but not at this magnitude.”

Downtown Raleigh transforms during festival weekend with pop-up shops, a community service event, clothing donations, a garage car show and dozens of parties.

“The thing I love about Dreamville the most is people that you wouldn’t normally come in contact with, you get the opportunity to meet. You leave your problems outside the gate,” Whitfield said. “You come in, everybody’s smiling, even if you don’t like the lineup.”

A live music experience in our backyard

As a percussion professor at N.C. Central University and the school’s jazz ensemble and hip-hop instructor, Thomas Taylor knows about music and its evolution.

Dreamville, he said, blends a mix of the old and the new and different sounds of R&B, hip-hop and soul, all having origins in jazz.

“Part of what I do in the classes is ask the students to introduce me to the artists,” Taylor said. “I love that Dreamville is great by introducing artists that may not be at the forefront of the mainstream. But they are significant artists that maybe haven’t gotten national exposure, and Dreamville is definitely a national festival. I’m sad to see it leave.”

Early in the day during Dreamville, new and up-and-coming artists take to the stage, like TiaCorine, a Winston-Salem State University graduate who gained fame with her 2022 rap hit “Freaky T.” Other rappers like Lute, Cozz, and EARTHGANG, all signed to Cole’s Dreamville Records label, have gained recognition through the festival.

“I implore my students to go and experience live music. To see something at that scale, you don’t have to travel to New York or Philadelphia for the Roots Picnic but can drive 25 minutes or even 10 minutes if you live in Raleigh and be there and experience a national or international festival right in our own backyard,” Taylor said.

“What makes me want to listen to an artist or a song multiple times is that it has to move my body, my booty and my soul,” Taylor said. “If you’re experiencing that live, chances are you’re going to have all three happen to you in a different way than if you’re experiencing it from your phone.”

An event that showcases local talent

If you’ve ever listened to the Triangle’s hip-hop and R&B station K97.5, you’ve heard the voice of MIR.I.AM on your radio.

The radio host, Miriam Tolbert, is also the founder of Carolina Waves, which promotes independent artists. For the past seven years, Tolbert has seen some big names emerge from the group, like Toosii, a Raleigh-based rapper who rose to prominence with his single “Favorite Song.”

“We launched in 2017 and since then, there have been thousands of artists that have performed on the Carolina Waves stage,” Tolbert said. “The cool thing is that it’s a touring platform, so we do events across the Carolinas.”

Performing at Dreamville is a goal for many local artists, and now that the festival is leaving, the music and arts community is losing a big event that pulled for them.

“So many other artists being able to have their artistry displayed in front of thousands at one time, it just had so much impact and been able to really put a lot of people on the map who may not have been known,” Tolbert said.

A boost for small businesses

Dreamville Festival brings in millions of dollars to the Raleigh area’s restaurants, hotels, stores and local boutiques. Last year’s music event drew nearly 52,000 people each day and created a $10.5 million direct economic impact.

Jamie Radar and Amber Echevarria, owners of the clothing store Munjo Munjo, sell hats, socks, shirts and jewelry from independent creators. They can always tell it’s Dreamville weekend by the increase in foot traffic in their East Hargett Street store.

“Coming from Chicago, I feel we were a little bit out of place stylistically when we started our brand,” Radar said. “Dreamville really brings in people who understand our approach to our creative endeavors. It’s such a huge, impactful weekend for us that we kind of plan around.”

With the IBMA World of Bluegrass festival also leaving the area, many are wondering what could replace the two big events that have had such an impact on local businesses.

“I can’t imagine that without Dreamville we would see that type of regular boost,” Radar said. “It’s kind of hard to say what we could plan to fill that gap. It’ll be a brainstorming session for sure.”

An avenue for local visual art

Artists across all mediums have gotten a chance to showcase their talents during Dreamville Festival weekend. One local group spearheading the efforts to highlight them is Artsplosure, a nonprofit arts and event studio in Raleigh.

The group hosts the two-day Raleigh arts festival, bringing over 150 visual artists from around the country.

Cameron Laws, the creative director, said Artsplosure has partnered with Dreamville Festival since the inaugural year after the organizers contacted the group to “infuse a lot of local creative flavor into the festival.”

“The first year we created a 9-hole miniature golf course themed around the performer lineup and other hip-hop icons,” Laws said. “We’ve presented dozens of muralists, marching bands, art installations, and other interactive experiences into the festival, and it’s been so rewarding to steward this opportunity for artists that admire the Dreamville label and lifestyle.”

This year, Artsplosure is showcasing some murals from the past Dreamville festivals as well as six new works from North Carolina artists.

Laws said the best thing about the festival’s evolution is seeing it prove that Raleigh can host events on this scale and that “great art is good business.” Dreamville prioritizing local art separates it from other music events, Laws said. She jokingly refers to the event as the “Festival Industrial Complex.”

“As someone that’s been in the creative sector of our city for so long, it’s really satisfying to see such an artistically driven, shared community experience also be great for our city economically,” Laws said.

Laws said she’ll miss the audience that the festival attracts to the city each year, along with their creative outfits.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find a more enthusiastic and loyal audience of fans,” she said. “Dreamville is a such a vibe, and the vibes the audience brings with them is such an elemental part of that.”

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