Lil Wayne, 21 Savage to play Dreamville

Lil Wayne, 21 Savage, Ludacris and Erykah Badu will join J. Cole next month at Dreamville Festival at Dix Park in Raleigh.

The event will be held April 5-6. It is the fifth and final year. The music lineup was released at noon on Monday.

Lil Wayne with Hot Boys (Juvenile, Turk, and B.G.) and Big Tymers (Mannie Fresh and Birdman), 21 Savage, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Ludcaris, Ari Lennox, Chief Keef and Keyshia Cole are set to perform on April 5.  

J. Cole, Erykah Badu, Tems, GloRilla, J.I.D., Wale, Coco Jones and more will perform on April 6.

More than 100,000 festival goers from 20+ countries attended 2024’s event, which was headlined by SZA, 50 cent, Nicki Minaj and Dreamville founder J. Cole. Usher and Drake headlined the 2023 festival. Tickets are available online.

Over the weekend, Dreamville organizers released new maps suggesting traffic flow in and around the festival. Drivers can use Gorman Street to Avent Ferry Road to Varsity Drive to avoid festival traffic.

Festival goers can also purchase a shuttle ticket to get picked up in downtown Raleigh and shuttled to festival grounds at Dix Park. There’s also plenty of parking around North Carolina State University for those who purchase a parking pass. 

Final year, means final chance at economic impact

In 2024, Raleigh raked in $145.9 million in economic impact from Dreamville.

With 2025 being the final year, the local economy will take a big hit from no longer hosting the annual festival. No replacement has been announced for Dreamville; however, organizers with Visit Raleigh previously said they plan to create a new Raleigh music festival in its place.

"Sad to see it go. It brings the whole city to life honestly - before and after, I mean Thursday to Friday to Monday," MojoMojo owner Amber Echeveria said. "It's full of people that are excited to explore Raleigh." 

Dreamville has a big impact on the hotel and hospitality industry. Typically, after the lineup of artists is released, Raleigh's hotel occupancy rate fills as people make their final arrangements for festival weekend.

“We are very excited about the energy and the folks that come to town with Dreamville,” said Chris Powers, co-owner of The Bend Bar. “Being a part of this kind of neighborhood is really exciting for us and especially with so much energy around the last Dreamville.”

The Bend Bar opened in December, Powers says he’s excited his business gets to experience Dreamville. He hopes after this final festival something else takes its place. 

“You know you always want more energy being focused on Raleigh. But I know a lot of those folks that work for the city of Raleigh, like the greater Raleigh in the visitors bureau, are really working hard to get more energy and to get people back in downtown Raleigh. So I have hopes that they’re gonna replace these really big festivals with something else,” said Powers.

Could something new replace Dreamville?

Raleigh City Council Member Corey Branch tells WRAL Dreamville means a lot to the downtown community, and he is working to fill that void. 

“There may be something else that may come out of it. I know J. Cole is tied to the name Dreamville, and I know he is looking to retire,” said Branch. 

Branch compared Dreamville to the annual IBMA Bluegrass festival and says although IBMA is not returning to Raleigh, the city will still be hosting the Bluegrass Festival. He tells WRAL, there have been conversations with the organizers of Dreamville about creating a similar event.

Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell told WRAL that the city is “in talks” with Live Nation and the event organizers of Dreamville to hold a festival at Dix Park similar to Dreamville, but it will not be associated with J. Cole.