Ari Lennox

Courtney Shanade Salter (born March 26th, 1991) is better known under her stage name Ari Lennox is an American singer and songwriter from Washington, D.C. She is the first female artist affiliated with J. Cole's label Dreamville Records. She released her first EP with the label on October 21 2016 titled Pho where she began gaining notoriety. Shea Butter Baby, her debut album, was released on the 7th of May, 2019. Ari Lennox began uploading her music to the Internet in 2012, when she released her mixtape debut Five Finger Discount, and her debut EP Ariography in 2013. The year 2014 saw her continue to share her music over the internet, including her self launched single Bound. In the year 2015, she performed in Omen's Elephant Eyes album on Sweat it out on 21st July. Later that year her music was circulating around the Dreamville team as J. Cole wanted her to collaborate with him on some potential references to Rihanna. She was officially signed by Dreamville Records on 8 December. In the record Revenge of the Dreamers II She was on the track Backseat alongside Cozz. The 21st of October, 2016, her Pho EP was released. Ari Lennox performed the song Change by J. Cole as well as being an opener on the 4 Your Eyez Only Tour 2017, in which she joined by EarthGang. In 2018, she was able to be a guest on two tracks with her label-mates EarthGang in Nothing but the Best and Bas on Icarus. Ari Lennox debuted her first single from Shea Butter Baby, Whipped Cream on 16 July 2018, which was released on July 16th, 2018. A music video was later released in September. In November, she dropped two more singles called 40 Shades of Choke and Grampa. In November 13, she came out with two additional singles, No One as well as Pedigree. Shea Butter Baby was released in her debut single February 26, 2019 for her album Creed II. Shea Butter Baby performed with Cole as part of the Creed II sound track on the 16th of November. This track, which was made available with a video on YouTube February 20, 2019 has been viewed over 3 million times within the first seven days. In December 2018 she was a supporting act on From East Atlanta With Love Tour. From East Atlanta With Love Tour with 6LACK.