Ari Lennox

Courtney Shanade Salter, better known by her stage name of Ari Lennox, is an American singer and musician born in Washington, D.C., who was the first female to sign with J. Cole's Dreamville Records record label. In October of 2016 Ari Lennox dropped her EP Pho. It was here that she gained recognition. Shea Butter Baby is her debut album. The album was released in May of 2019. Ari Lennox began posting her music to the internet in 2012 when she launched her debut mixtape Five Finger Discount and debut EP Ariography, in 2013. The year 2014 saw Ari Lennox release her single Bound, as well as the mixtape she self-released, Five Finger Discount. In 2015, she appeared in Omen's Elephant Eyes Album on Sweat released on the 21st of July. J. Cole had her send her songs to the Dreamville Team later in the year, as he wanted Rihanna to collaborate together on a few references. On December 28, 2008 it was announced that Rihanna was contracted with Dreamville Records. She was featured on the joint album Revenge of the Dreamers II on the track Backseat with Cozz. The 21st of October, 2016, her debut EP was released, titled Pho. Ari Lennox was a guest on J. Cole's Change and also performed on her own 4 Your Eyez Only Tour as opening artist. She also appeared as a guest performer on two tracks, including the EarthGang's Nothing but the Best song and Bas's Icarus. Ari Lennox, on the 16th of July 2018 was the first artist to release her single "Whipped Cream" from Shea Butter Baby. The music video for it came out on the 5th. Then, on the 9th November she dropped two additional singles called 40 Shades of Choke (and Grampa). Two more singles were released on the 11th of November, titled Pedigree and No One. Then she appeared as a guest on the Creed II soundtrack with Cole on a track entitled Shea Butter Baby on November 16, and it was released as a single on February 26, 2019, for her debut album the same title. The track was made available with a video on YouTube 20 February 2019 was watched more than 3 million times within the first seven days. As a supporting act, she toured in concert with 6LACK in December 2018 on the From East Atlanta With Love Tour.