Sean Paul To Perform At J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival
J. Cole’s annual Dreamville Festival will have a bit of Dancehall flavor this time around, as Jamaican megastar Sean Paul has been announced among the star-studded lineup.
The festival, which will take place over two days (April 1 and 2), features three headlining acts – Usher, Burna Boy, and a joint set by Drake and J Cole, according to a release.
Paul is slated to perform on Day One, which Usher will headline.
The No Lie deejay will also share the stage with Lil Durk, Ari Lennox, City Girls, and Jessie Reyez.
On Day Two, J. Cole and Drake will headline a set in which both of them are expected to “perform a medley of hits from each of their chart-topping catalogs, which collectively have come to define the sound of a generation”, as disclosed in a press release concerning the event.
Summer Walker, J.I.D, Glorilla and Waka Flocka Flame, among others, will join them.
Burna Boy will bring the curtains down on the two-day spectacle, which will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Over 80,000 people are expected to attend the Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh.
Sean Paul is the first Dancehall artist to perform at the highly anticipated show since its inception in 2019.
The 50-year-old, who has never resiled from maintaining that he was a Dancehall artist and nothing else, has had 19 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart—from as far back as 2003.
It was through his impressive catalogue of Dancehall songs that he became one of the world’s most sought-after artists for collaborations by Pop singers, among them Rihanna and Beyonce.
Paul’s first Hot 100 chart-topper was the platinum-selling Get Busy, on Dancehall producer Lenky Marsden’s Diwali riddim. Prior to that, he had scored with his first hit single Gimme the Light on the Buzz riddim, which peaked at No. 7. Both songs appeared on Paul’s 2X Platinum Dutty Rock album, which won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2004.
His 2005 hit single We Be Burning on the Stepz riddim peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received Platinum certification in 2017. His 2005 Billboard chart-topping single Temperature voiced on Dancehall producer Snowcone’s Applause riddim also received a triple-Platinum certification that year.
Last year, Paul told DancehallMag that although some of his biggest hit songs did not consist of hardcore deejaying patterns, they were still authentic Dancehall tracks.
“Some of my biggest songs [are] authentic Dancehall. Meaning it may not be the most hardcore, Dancehall song you ever hear and to a Dancehall enthusiast might be a more smooth-sounding song. Like a Like Glue, which had more melodies in it and that kind of stuff but it is authentic Dancehall,” he said.
Paul’s latest album Scorcha, which was nominated for Best Reggae Album at the 65th Grammy Awards, included songs such as How We Do It with Pia Mia, No Fear with Damian Marley and Nicky Jam, and Light My Fire with Shenseea and Gwen Stefani.