J. Cole's inaugural Dreamville fest is set to go down today. The festival was initially supposed to take place in September of 2018 but due to Hurricane Florence, Cole and the Dreamville camp postponed it by several months. As artists like Cole, Big Sean, Nelly, 21 Savage, and more are set to take the stage, a local Raleigh activist is explaining why he's not down for it.
Joshua Bishop spoke to ABC11 about Dreamville Fest which is set to take place at Dorothea Dix Park. Bishop is a chairman and activist for Justice Served, NC. He explained that he won't be supporting the festival, and suggested that locals from the area don't pull up either.
"No, I won't go to Dreamville and I don't suggest my people go to Dreamville," Bishop said.
Bishop explained that the tickets for the festival are expensive and out of an accessible range for the city's marginalized residents. Additionally, he said that the area where the festival takes place is a symbol of gentrification that's pushing low-income residents out of their own neighborhoods.
"Southeast Raleigh matters. So don't make it look like Southeast Raleigh is just Dorothea Dix Park," Bishop said "If you're going to do a festival in Raleigh, and J Cole should know the struggle because he's from Fayetteville, so I feel like if you do do a performance in Dorothea Dix Park, some of the funds should come back to Southeast Raleigh."
Following Hurricane Florence, J. Cole and Dreamville donated some of the profits from ticket sales towards hurricane-relief efforts and the Dix Park Conservancy.