Arts & Entertainment
TECHNICIAN
PAGE 10 • THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019
Dreamville Festival debuts in Dorothea Dix Park Marissa Jerden Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor
&
Minh Pham Video Editor
Last weekend on Saturday April 6, J. Cole’s music festival, Dreamville, debuted at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh. The festival had been postponed from its original premiere date in September due to Hurricane Florence moving through North Carolina. The multi-stage festival featured a variety of big name hip-hop, rap and R&B artists. Nearly 40,000 people attended the one-day festival. Although it had rained all day Friday, the muddy ground and unfortunate weather conditions didn’t stop the festival attendees from dancing and having a good time. Additionally, the rescheduled nature of the festival seemed to have little effect on the atmosphere and proceeded with few hiccups. Mel Pagar, a second-year student in the College of Engineering, attended the festival. He
shared his opinions on the festival as his first live music experience in an interview over email. “Overall, the festival was absolutely amazing,” Pagar said. “Everything was beautiful from the artwork to the sets. It was all just thoughtfully laid out. There were various art pieces of things like the Raleigh skyline and Nipsey [Hussle] and Mac Miller tributes and other cool pieces scattered throughout the park that was just beautiful.” Recently, Dorothea Dix Park has undergone significant renovations making it a great venue to show off Raleigh’s progress to tourists. There were two main stages in which acts performed and alternated: “Rise” stage and “Shine” stage. Some people stood for about eight hours to keep their spot for J. Cole and the other main acts. Dreamville is Raleigh’s newest music festival with a focus on hip-hop, and the lineup included artists from a variety of its sub-genres. One of the first artists to perform was EarthGang. EarthGang is known for songs with raw energy, and their live performance carried that same intensity. The duo’s unique music matched
SARAH COCHRAN/TECHNICIAN
The crowd at 6lack’s performance tosses a beach ball and dances during the 2019 Dreamville Festival in Raleigh’s Dorothea Dix Park on Saturday, April 6, 2019. The first ever Dreamville Festival featured music, food, drinks and activities and was sponsored by J. Cole’s record label Dreamville Records.
their styles. Johnny Venus wore sniper’s camo as a robe, exposing a bulletproof vest paired with a plaid kilt. His partner, Doctur Dot, wore a black and white striped t-shirt. The pair absolutely rocked it, especially when performing their song “Up,” which has previously only been performed on YouTube. Another artist who played the festival was Rapsody. Rapsody, originally from Snow Hill, North Carolina, began her music career while
attending NC State and is now a Grammynominated artist. Bas was next, and his bright lime green shirt and reflective sunglasses matched his colorful, energetic, yet suave and cool performance. J.I.D got his stage name from his childhood nickname “jittery.” J.I.D attempted to introduce the song “Westbrook,” but he was unable
DREAMVILLE continued page 11
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Get ahead or catch up on your credit requirements! GTCC offers:
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To learn more, visit gtcc.edu/visiting-students
Registration for visiting students is April 15 – May 23 Classes begin as early as May 29.
