Ari Lennox

Courtney Shanade Salter (born March 26th, 1991) is better known under her stage name Ari Lennox is an American artist and singer hailing from Washington, D.C. She is the first female artist associated with J. Cole's record label Dreamville Records. Her first single was released on the label on October 21st, 2016, titled Pho. This is when she gained fame. Her debut studio album Shea Butter Baby was released on May 7, 2019. Ari Lennox has been uploading her music since 2012 with her debut mixtape "Five Finger Discount" and her EP Ariography. The year 2014 saw her continue to upload her music via the internet including her independently released single Bound. In 2015, she was featured 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 that year, as he wanted Rihanna to work with her on some references. The official signing ceremony was held to Dreamville Records on 8 December. She was featured on the collaborative album Revenge of the Dreamers II on the track Backseat with Cozz. The 21st of October, 2016, the EP Pho debuted. Ari Lennox later appeared on J. Cole's track Change and was an opening act on the 4 Your Eyez Only Tour in 2017. In 2018, she went on to be a guest on two songs with her label-mates EarthGang on Nothing but the Best and Bas on Icarus. Ari Lennox, on the 16th of July 2018, released her first single "Whipped Cream" from Shea Butter Baby. A music video was released on September 5th. She released her second single Grampa on November 9. Then, in November 2013, she dropped No One and Pedigree. Shea Butter Baby is a track she sang together with Cole for Creed II's soundtrack on 16 November. It then came out as a standalone single in February 2019, to coincide with the release of her debut album. The track was launched with a music video on YouTube 20 February 2019 was watched more than three million times over the first 7 days. In December 2018 the singer was a part of her From East Atlanta With Love Tour featuring 6LACK.