Ari Lennox said she wanted off J. Cole’s record label Dreamville a few years ago, and she’s saying it again.
The singer just ripped label executives at Dreamville and Interscope Records for putting out the video to her song “Smoke” against her wishes.
Ari says the video, shot in a mental institution, makes her seem like the poster child for mental health, which she doesn’t want.
“Interscope and Dreamville have been playing with me all month and I’m so exhausted,” she wrote on Instagram. “I’m so tired of people treating me like they’re sorry for me and like I’m the face of mental health. I’m ok and I’ve never been happier. What I don’t like is being signed and lied to and manipulated. Not one person at those labels ever knew how to market or protect me. Y’all don’t know the half. Constant let down and neglect. This industry stuff will never be for me.”
Ari posted a video as well and said she’s tired of trying to do right by her labels, only to be treated poorly.
“It’s not okay so I just want to be released and it’s just that simple. This was my final straw,” she said. “The people in charge of the video were unresponsive, but everybody loved the visuals, so the video would stay up … I wish I had a label that wouldn’t have me out here trying to explain why I need advertisement for my record. You cannot expect an artist to be anything without advertisement, like you can’t. Why am I begging for advertisement? Why am I paying for my own Google ads?”