Dreamville Festival debuts in Dorothea Dix Park

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 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

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.

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Arts & Entertainment

TECHNICIAN

PAGE 11 • THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019

VOLAR blends community service, Spanish culture

Antonio Dinkens

Correspondent

There are many opportunities for students to reach out to their communities on NC State’s campus. Voluntarios Ahora en Raleigh, or VOLAR, is one such opportunity for those who wish to help Raleigh’s Spanish-speaking community. The program is run through the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature. Deborah Kane, a senior lecturer in Spanish language and literature, is the director of VOLAR.

“We started out as an initiative of the Foreign Language Department here at NC State to pair students of Spanish at a certain level of proficiency with community service opportunities where they can interact with native Spanish speakers,” Kane said.

VOLAR does two different types of community service: semester long opportunities as well as one time service opportunities.

“One category is semester-long commitments, where students go once a week. They do a regular shift, maybe an hour a week every week or two hours every other week,” Kane said. “It depends on the organization. The other is one-time events, so they may go and work three hours on one Saturday... Within those two categories, in the semester long commitments we have a partnership with the Mexican Consulate.”

Their community outreach programs have a diverse reach within the Spanish-speaking community of Raleigh, helping in various programs in the Triangle.

“We have the Urban Ministries Open Door Clinic, which is a free health clinic for lowerincome residents of Raleigh,” Kane said. “So not all of their patients are Spanish speaking, but a lot are. Students will go there and work at the front desk and when people come in, check them in and make sure they have an appointment. They’ll make phone calls to confirm appointments; they might do the initial interview with the patients to establish that they are eligible to receive free or reduced healthcare.”

While there are not any strict guidelines for joining VOLAR, they do ask for a certain level of proficiency in Spanish to help with volunteer work in their community.

“So our requirements are that they need to be in Spanish 202 or above or have the same level of proficiency,” Kane said “That course is just an easy way for us to know more or less where they are with the language, but if it’s someone that’s a heritage or native speaker or they have [spoken the language] extensively and they don’t have the coursework necessarily, we welcome their participation.”

Kane suggests that anyone who wishes to join should come to their meetings at the beginning of each semester.

“We just have a big meeting at the beginning of each semester, and that’s where we lay out all the different activities that are offered that semester and students can sign up,” Kane said. “We’ll have orientations usually for those semester long partnerships, there’s some training and things like that.” Emily Sands, a lecturer of Spanish language and literature, is an assistant for VOLAR. Sands thinks that joining VOLAR helps bolster a student’s aptitude for learning Spanish and their desire to do so.

“I get feedback from the students that exposure gives them more confidence in using the language, and they’re exposed to more areas that it can be used,” Sands said. “If the organizations that we already work with or other organizations can see that positive relationship then it might spawn more opportunities, or they might come up with more ways in which we can involve students in things.”

VOLAR is a chance to better understand Spanish speaking culture, learn Spanish and see the effects that the real world and decisions have on such a community.

“But what they don’t often realize is all the other side benefits, the cultural exposure, like going to the Mexican Consulate and being the only non-Mexican there for the hour that you’re there,” Kane said.

More information about VOLAR and its community service opportunities can be found on their website.

“VOLAR is one such opportunity for those who wish to help Raleigh’s Spanish-speaking community.”

JOHN ALLISON/TECHNICIAN

DREAMVILLE

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to because he was too amped up, living up to his stage name. His “jittery” presence and energy immediately filled the stage. The intensity was matched by a mosh pit J.I.D started in the crowd. In an act of respect to those who didn’t want to participate, J.I.D instructed them move to the back, and everyone the pit went wild.

One of the most surprising performances was Big Sean. It’s obvious he’s a seasoned artist that cares about his craft and performance. He managed to get an enormous crowd to hold a moment of silence for recently shot and murdered rapper, Nipsey Hussle. Big Sean’s performance added a perfect ending to the daytime shows.

As night fell, 21 Savage took the stage. He played a solid, yet unremarkable set. SZA performed after on the other stage, but many people stayed at Shine in order to wait for J. Cole, the final act.

Cole himself did not disappoint. Cole played a long set with songs from his whole discography, such as “classics, not hits” from his early mixtapes including “The Come Up” and “Friday Night Lights.” Cole brought out surprise guest Meek Mill, and the pair performed the song “Dreams and Nightmares” and songs off of Mill’s latest album.

Cole ended his set with a rendition of “Note to Self.” Fans know the song to be the final track off “2014 Forest Hills Drive.” Cole uses the last ten minutes of the song as the “movie credits” of the album. Similarly, he used the same song to conclude the festival. In the middle of the track, he stopped the music to explain his vision for the song as well as the festival.

“It’s talking about love, and when I look out, and I see all y’all come out, I feel like that’s the word that comes to mind,” Cole said. “We all here for the love of music, for the love of people, for the love of life.”

One special aspect of Dreamville was the festival’s connection to the local rap scene. Cole grew up in Fayetteville, which was part of his motivation for hosting a music festival in his home state. The festival also showcased local talents like King Mez, Lute and Rapsody. In an interview with WKNC, Mez commented on the impact of North Carolina on his music.

“If I wasn’t from North Carolina, I wouldn’t be as cool with that peace and that steady pace and that diligence,” Mez said. “This is a very introspective place… and I’m rooted and grounded because I’m from here. It made it easier to navigate the industry and not lose myself or lose my vision.”

Exhibiting local talent at a big music festival is important for many reasons. It allows North Carolina artists to put their names on the map and allows for a stronger connection between artists and their home communities.

“This festival was so special for so many reasons,” Pagar said in the email. “Not just for me but for a lot of people for sure. Seeing someone who made it out of Fayetteville, and who has become a hero and icon for so many people come back ‘home’ and perform was just amazing. I have only lived in Fayetteville for a few years, but I know how much he means to people who live there. I could tell it was special for J. Cole too.”

Jack Greene and WKNC contributed to the reporting on this article.

SARAH COCHRAN/TECHNICIAN Dreamville Records founder and rapper J. Cole dances during his performance at the 2019 Dreamville Festival in 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.