Ari Lennox
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Source: Aaron J. Thornton / Getty
Music artists wanting out of their contracts is nothing new in the game and it seems like Ari Lennox is the latest in a long line of disgruntled rappers/singers to demand they be given their walking papers from the record label they feel is holding them hostage.
Taking to her Instagram stories, the “Pressure” singer went into detail as to why she no longer wants to be a part of Dreamville and Interscope saying they’ve been “playing” with her all month and “treating me like they’re sorry for me and like I’m the face of mental health.” Further expanding on her discontent with her situation, Ari explained where she was coming from in the situation.
“What I don’t like is being signed and lied to and manipulated. Not one person at those labels ever knew how to market or protect me. Y’all don’t know the half. Constant let down and neglect. This industry stuff will never be for me.”
https://x.com/big_business_/status/1851513547265605725
According to Rap-Up, Ari even explained how she had to come out of pocket to pay for Google ads after the label released her visuals to “Smoke” without her permission.
Per Rap-Up:
The Shea Butter Baby creator hopped on Instagram Live to further air out her problems with Interscope. There, she revealed that the visuals for “Smoke” were released without her permission. “You cannot expect an artist to be anything without advertisement,” she said before mentioning that she’s been paying for the track’s Google Ads.
“I just want to be released, and it’s just that simple, and I’m tired of being nice,” the D.C. native explained. “I was trying to do everything the right way, but now I’m pissed. This was my final straw.”
Knowing what it’s like to be in a dire situation with a record label, T-Pain offered his services and took to the comments section to let Ari know that he’s there to help steer her through this situation as he’s been through the motions himself.
“Bb… … I need to talk to you. I wanna at least throw out some suggestions from experience on how I navigated from being supported by a label to fully independent. It’s fuckin tough as shit but you’re so talented and smart I knew if I gave you a littler perspective from my recent experience, I’ll at least spark something you can take and absolutely kill this shit on your own and be your own boss.”
Yeah, Ari Lennox is over it. Damn. pic.twitter.com/vwx35bshhN
— Write Life (@TheQueenMuse1) October 30, 2024
We hope she reached out to T-Pain to see what could be done to help her get out of her situation. Who knows, maybe her label will honor her wishes and just let her walk away, but if we’ve learned anything about the music industry over recent decades it’s that they rarely ever give the artists their freedom when asked to.
What do y’all think about Ari Lennox calling for her label to release her from her contract? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Source: Erika Goldring / Getty / Ari Lennox
Ari Lennox is celebrating a personal milestone: sobriety.
Spotted on HipHopDX, the Dreamville songstress got emotional with her fans when talking about being sober for a year. In her emotional post, the “Pressure” crafter reflected on her past self and how far she has come since she stopped drinking heavily.
On Monday, December 18th, Lennox shared photos and a heartfelt message about her journey, leading to a much healthier look.
Per HipHopDX:
“You see, drinking was my ritual to combat my immense fear of flying,” she wrote before going into detail about a near-death experience wherein she drank far too much. “‘Just alcohol’ could’ve killed me. I had many guardian angels watching over me that day. Thank God there was nobody filming (I pray and hope [crying emoji, side-eye emoji]) it was pretty divine.”
She added: “I decided December 18th 2022, would be the day I got clean. You know what I realized after 1 year of many sober flights? I never needed alcohol to get through the flight. I thought I needed alcohol to escape my reality and to cope. I needed an excuse to drink and not feel the pain of every day life and trauma. It was my numbing vacation to avoid my purpose and my truth.
“Thank you to my fans. I love when yall share with me your sober dreams and fetes. It makes me so emotional. I’m so proud of you and I love you all so much. We can do this.”
It’s Been A Long Journey For Ari Lennox
This latest update on her sobriety comes after she celebrated seven months of putting down the bottle, mentioning times when she passed out in airports after drinking and now being in more control of her emotions in a now-deleted post.
“7 months sober.” Lennox wrote in the July IG post. “That’s a lot of sober flights. A lot of sober conversations. A lot of facing things raw and head on. Honestly I don’t know what will happen when I reach a year sober. Don’t know if sobriety is forever or not but I can’t imagine going back to how things were.
“Passing out in the airport or having my emotions more heightened than needed smh shit was bad. I feel more in control of my emotions. More stable. More happy. More alert. More safe. More accepting of things I can’t control and more responsible with things I can.
“I have less anxiety socially and when I’m ready to go, I go. I recognize my threshold with things and implement boundaries. I don’t find interest in partying anymore :/ maybe I’m changing and that’s deeper than alcohol. I like doing chill sweet things. I’m a chill bitch I realized.”
She added, “Accepting help and realizing I’m not the best traveler on my own has been a game changer. So now I have help and that helps. Having help is ok.
“I like waking up with no hangover or embarrassment. I like waking up with no night terrors and panic attacks from liquor.”
Clap for her.
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Photo: Erika Goldring / Getty
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CLOSE
Ari Lennox comes across as one of the sweetest souls on the planet so we’re not understanding why someone would provoke her to anger by disrupting her set. During a performance, Ari Lennox had a water bottle tossed in her direction, prompting her to cuss out the person.
Ari Lennox is currently on tour with Rod Wave, and it can be assumed that the video footage going viral online at the moment was from one of the tour stops, although we’re not completely sure of the date. As it stands, Lennox, 32, was onstage in the middle of a song when a water bottle came crashing down in front of her.
Lennox immediately paused her set as security rushed to the stage to find the culprit, but the singer had plenty to say to the tosser in a very eloquent fashion. The tongue-lashing was, in a word, exquisite and very much passionate, with fans online noting that the DMV native went back to her roots.
We’ve seen before how fans tossing water at performers can work out negatively in their favor so we’re not sure what kind of moment the fan was having that they saw fit to do something that is sort of high-key dangerous. What if she tripped over the bottle and her herself, or what if it hit her in the face? All kinds of things could’ve gone wrong.
On X, formerly Twitter, Ari Lennox is seeing her name trend as the video of the moment continues to go wide. We’ve got the best reactions below.
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Photo: Getty
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