Dreamvillians: A Guide To The Rappers On J. Cole's New Label

The who's who to J. Cole's label.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Happy belated birthday to J. Cole! The 29-year-old rapper celebrated his birthday last night in New York City in grand fashion. He graced the stage at The Theater at MSG, had his pal Kendrick Lamar come out as a surprise guest, and Jay Z even gave him his original Roc-A-Fella chain. But Cole didn't just get gifts, he gave back to his fans with a new mixtape, Revenge of the Dreamers. But maybe the biggest news of all was that Cole announced a new distribution partnership with Interscope for his imprint Dreamville.

J. Cole has been pushing his Dreamville movement since he dropped his first mixtape, The Come Up, in 2007. Since then, he's expanded the movement into a foundation for kids and now a record label. Since Cole doesn't roll with a huge clique, a lot of people are left to wonder, who exactly is part of Dreamville?

 

The label currently only has three artists listed outside of J. Cole himself. Longtime fans of Cole have probably seen or heard all of these guys, but we get the feeling we'll be seeing a whole lot more of them pretty soon. So in case you're not already familiar with Bas and Omen, here's Dreamvillians: A Guide To The Rappers On J. Cole's New Label...

Written by Elva Aguilar (@Cheverella_)

RELATED: J. Cole Releases A New Mixtape Revenge of the Dreamers and Announces Partnership Between His Dreamville Imprint and Interscope
RELATED: Jay Z Just Gave J. Cole His Original Roc-A-Fella Chain

Bas

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From: Queens, NY 
Twitter: @FiendBassy
Instagram: fiendbassy

It makes sense for Bas to be the first artist officially signed to Dreamville. The Paris born, Queens bred rapper only started spitting a few years ago as a joke. But after realizing that he had talent as a lyricist, he approached his brother Ibrahim—Cole's BFF whose known by some fans as IB—for support, and it's been history ever since.

While Cole rose to fame, Bas released two mixtapes, 2011's Quarter Water Raised Me Vol. I and 2013's Quarter Water Raised Me Vol. II. Bas has gotten co-signs from sites like 2DopeBoyz, he recently rapped on J. Cole's latest album Born Sinner alongside 50 Cent for “New York Times,” and even has a following/imprint of his own now, Super Mookin Fiends. And according to the artwork for Revenge of the Dreamers, it looks like Bas has a project called Last Winter dropping on March 6. Not bad for someone who started rapping randomly after a night of drinking with his buddy.

KQuick

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From: Boston, Mass.
Twitter: @KQuickOfficial
Instagram: kquickofficial

Kaleb "KQuick" Rollins isn't new to the music industry, just new to Dreamville. He graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Clive David Institute of Recorded Music and created a production collective called Grand Staff with three of his classmates. Quick helped produce on Fabolous' "You Be Killin’em." KQuick has also worked under Ryan Leslie and helped out fellow Dreamvillian Bas on his 2013 mixtape, Quarter Water Raised Me Vol. II as a producer and as a vocalist. You can catch him on Dreamville's Revenge of the Dreamers alongside Bas and J. Cole on the song "Lit."

Omen

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Twitter: @Omen
Instagram: Omen773
From: Chicago, IL

Omen's relationship with J. Cole started in 1998, when the two would rap battle on hip-hop forums thanks to their love for Canibus. Like J. Cole, Omen also had a love for basketball that he left behind to focus on rap. Since then, he and J. Cole have collaborated on 2009's The Warm Up on "The Badness", 2010's Friday Night Lights on "Enchanted" and most recently on the new Dreamville mixtape, Revenge of the Dreamers.

Omen hasn’t just worked on J. Cole’s music, though. Over the years, the two have also collaborated on Omen’s projects, 2011’s Afraid Of Heights, which included ”The Look Of Lust” featuring Kendrick Lamar and 2012’s A Glorious Cool.

With the buzz that's been surrounding Chicago rappers in the previous years, and with Omen hailing from the same neighborhood as Common (who he's often compared to) the platform Omen has with Dreamville just might be enough to take his career to the next level. 


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