Ari Lennox

Courtney Shanade Salter, also called Ari Lennox, a Washington, D.C.-based American singer/songwriter, was signed by the label's first female artist for Dreamville Records by J. Cole. On October 21, 2016 she dropped Pho, her first EP for the label Dreamville Records. That was the day she first gained the attention of her peers. Her debut album Shea Butter Baby was released on May 7, 2019. Ari Lennox has released her music online since 2012 with her debut mixtape "Five Finger Discount" and her EP Ariography. Ari Lennox continued to upload her tracks online through 2014, including the independently-released single Bound. On July 21 2015 Omen featured her on his album Elephant Eyes with the track Sweat It Out. J. Cole, who was part of the Dreamville crew at that time, wanted to have her work on Rihanna and Rihanna-related songs. The official signing ceremony was held with Dreamville Records on 8 December. Backseat is one of the songs she recorded with Cozz to record the collaboration album Revenge of the Dreamers II. The 21st of October, 2016 her debut EP was released under the name Pho. Ari Lennox appeared in J. Cole's Change track and also opened with the 4 Your Eyez Only Tour 2017. In 2018, she was able to guest feature on two of her songs along with labelmates EarthGang on Nothing but the Best and Bas on Icarus. On July 16 2018 Ari Lennox released the first single Whipped Cream on her first album Shea Butter Baby with an accompanying music video, which was released on the 5th of September. The 9th of November saw her release two additional singles titled 40 Shades of Choke and Grampa. On November 13 she dropped two more singles entitled One and Pdigree. One and Pdigree. Shea Butter Baby is a track that she recorded together with Cole on Creed II's soundtrack on the 16th of November. The track was released as a stand-alone single in February of 2019 to coincide with the release of her debut album. It was released with the music video which debuted in February 20th, 2019 that surpassed three million views on YouTube in its first seven days. In December 2018, she was part of her From East Atlanta With Love Tour featuring 6LACK.