Ari Lennox

Courtney Shanade Salter (born March 26 1991) more popularly known as her professionally-known moniker Ari Lennox is an American music producer and performer born in Washington, D.C. She is the first female artist associated with J. Cole's record label Dreamville Records. She released her first EP for the label on Oct. 21st, 2016, titled Pho. This is when she gained recognition. Her debut album Shea Butter Baby was released on May 7, 2019. Ari Lennox began uploading her music onto the internet back in 2012 after she launched her debut mixtape Five Finger Discount and debut EP Ariography In 2013. The year 2014 saw her continue to share her music over the web including her self release single Bound. On July 21 2015 Omen featured her on his album Elephant Eyes featuring the track Sweat It Out. J. Cole, who was a part of the Dreamville crew at the time and wanted her to do some Rihanna references. On the 8th of December, it was revealed that she was hired by Dreamville Records. On the record Revenge of the Dreamers II She was on the song Backseat along with Cozz. Then, in October 2016 she debuted her debut EP, Pho. Ari Lennox then appeared as the opening performance to J. Cole on his track Change in 2017. She also appeared on the 4 Your Eyez Only Tour. In 2018 she went on to guest feature on two tracks with her label-mates EarthGang on Nothing but the Best and Bas on Icarus. Ari Lennox's first album Shea Butter Baby was released on the 16th of July, 2018. First single, Whipped Cream, from the album dropped on the 5th of September, 2018 and featured a a music video. Her second single, Grampa on November 9. On November 13, she released two additional singles titled One and Pdigree. One as well as Pdigree. She then appeared on the Creed II soundtrack with Cole on a track entitled Shea Butter Baby on November 16, which was then released as a single on February 26 2019 for her debut album of the same title. The music video premiered on 20 February 2019 in conjunction with the song. Within one week, it had over 3,000,000 views. In December 2018 she performed on the From East Atlanta With Love Tour with 6LACK.