THE DREAMVILLE FORMULA

Can the Dreamville formula be re-created? 

For those who don’t know what Dreamville have been doing I’ll explain. They’re are releasing a compilation album called Return Of The Dreamers 3 and their rollout has been very creative and fun because they summon artists, producers, journalist, execs to these session with a invitation and the person who’s invited shows the invitation on social media and people have been losing their shit over the artists that have been invited. 

Naturally so those sessions have inspired artists in every city across the country to emulate what Dreamville has done. Getting a bunch of artists in the same room to create things with one another. If I was apart of something similar my questions would be

“Why and what are we doing this for?” 

Wouldn’t say I wouldn’t come without a reason to but just out of curiosity I would ask. 

Anyway. Let’s put this in perspective. 

What Dreamville is doing was planned out several months in advance. This isn’t something that was done on the fly or simply telling people to link up. They’ve probably invited at least 50-100 people to these sessions and things like traveling and artist and producers scheduling has to be accounted for. 

Second. Their end goal is completing the album in 10 days. They have something they’re working towards. They’re not just having these sessions just to have them. The artists involved know where their work may end up which is the album. There is an actual purpose. 

Third. I don’t think everyone involved is doing this work for free. I could be wrong. If Dreamville isn’t paying any of the people invited I wouldn’t be surprised because I feel Cole has been a solid enough artist that people would pull up just outta love for him and the opportunity to work with him if they haven’t yet.  

Now is this possible to pull off in any city? Yes, of course. I just feel it’s for the people who love being in creative environments or people who want to meet their peers on their creative scene that they haven’t met yet. I think it’s cool that what Dreamville is doing has creatives wanting to work with other people. 

Some would say ego’s would clash but I couldn’t see that happening. Niggas only pull that ego shit when they think not too many people watching. I don’t think a person would do that shit with 5 or more artist in the same space together. The reason why you didn’t hear of nobody ego tripping at those Dreamville sessions is because that would be damn near career suicide. Imagine being the idiot with the ego at one of the biggest studio sessions in hip hop history. Second I think Cole and his reps invited all people they’ve at least worked with or have had experiences with and that definitely helps keep any ego tripping away from the creative environment. If they did invite people they haven’t met yet I bet those artists had a solid working reputation. 

Sometimes it’s not even ego. Some people have different methods to their madness and sometimes it just doesn’t mix. Some people are used to working alone. Some people are used to working with a lot of people. Some people like their vocals mixed a certain way. Some don’t care. As a former artist I know there are so many factors that come into play when trying to do collaborations with more than 5 people. So I understand if a person wouldn’t want to be apart of something similar like Dreamville doing. 

Money would be the only thing I’d be worried about if it was involved. Especially for an engineer and producer. They should be getting paid the most. I’m even down with them being the only ones getting paid upfront but people would have to have contracts created and you know niggas not fucking with contracts. The potential for financial gain for making a project like this and then putting together shows, documentaries, merch, and content for it is damn near easy money. Especially if you bring each artist followings into the picture. It would require patience to see some good money and opportunities from it but I think it would be worth the wait. You need individuals that understand business to pull it off.

I wouldn’t have any issue doing something similar just as long it’s not forced and feels really organic. I wouldn’t really care if it wasn’t for an album or tape. I’m not really inspired by what Dreamville doing simply because I don’t get inspired by shit like that forreal. I seen all the pics and just thought “That’s wassup” and kept writing. I’m inspired by writing and not wanting to be broke anymore. That’s all I need for inspiration. Nothing else really moves me. I was more in awe of the marketing of ROTD sessions. I thought that was really creative and cool. The ROTD 3 sessions not much different from what Dame Dash was doing at DD172. He just didn’t have the invitation part. But so many artists, producers, engineers, and journalists created together in his gallery and they made so many dope projects there.

At the end of the day…..

If you gone link up. Cool

If you not gone link up. Cool. 

Just do some good work and don’t hate on nobody. 

Either way it go you’ll be okay. 

Peace 

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