The Dreamville Music Festival returned to Dorothea Dix Park this past weekend. It’s the fifth and final year for the event hosted by Fayetteville native J. Cole. While over 50,000 fans attended the two-day event, with festival goers coming from as far as the UK, it was local community organizers who have felt the lasting impacts of Dreamville.
Community Curator Sazi hosted several free dance events at Raleigh’s Glow Fitness in the week leading up to Dreamville.
“So it’s just like when you come out, just let loose whatever you dealing with, leave it at the door. Come on, dance or turn up. Have a good time. That’s all,” Sazi explained. “It’s about having a good time and curating the actual community. I think real community is being able to show up in spaces when you don’t feel like your full self, right? And knowing that the people around you can help carry you and support you in that.”
This event featured local DJs and vendors like Tia the Fluffy Hat Lady, who started crocheting last July. Her vendor table was full of colorful and monochromatic crocheted hats. In between the waves of partygoers dancing up to try on hats, she explains how events like these show how the creative community thrived before Dreamville and will continue to grow after the festival is gone.
“I feel like those of us who know and spread the word, we get these small events out, and they become large events. [It’s] because we are already a community. If you know, you know. That’s why I’m always reposting every flyer I see, [and] that’s why my friends are reposting. If there’s a Friends and Family [event], if there’s a Sazi event, I’m reposting everything. Because community is everything, it’s so important, especially right now,” said Tia.
Along with Tia, graphic artist and Durham native Isaiah Sutherland was featured at the event. You could find him closest to the dance floor, spray painting a snapshot of the night’s festivities on a t-shirt. He explained how the community for creatives in the RDU is slowly growing.
“Growing up in Durham is weird because you slowly watched it become gentrified. And now you can go out there, in 2024, 2025, and it’s just a flux of Black artists, like it’s great.” Sutherland explained. “I feel like North Carolina gets overlooked a lot for art, but when [people] come here, [they] often visit back. It’s because there’s something here and there’s a fire, and people want to be a part of that when it takes over.”
That’s been Sazi’s purpose, intentionally creating a safe space for creatives in RDU. She used to do this for two years as the House of Arts program director. After it was burned down at the beginning of the year, she pivoted to programming events across the community, with Glow Fitness and Bistro 401 as her main event hubs.
“To see the community still showing up, still showing out but on like now, behalf of us as individuals, is so amazing. About Glow [Fitness] man, I’m eternally grateful for them because the way that they stepped in and were just willing to be like, ‘Look, whatever you need’, right? It’s very hard to find people who support you in that way,” she said. “Even Bev at Congress, she’s reached out a couple of times, like Missy lanes, like all these venues, have just been willing to work with us and support us in what we’re doing, because they really believe in us. And that means a lot, right? Like that means so much.”
Sazi explained how the community isn’t only showing up for her, but also for other creatives who hosted events at the House of Art like Professor X and JMar the DJ’ing Duo who make up the group Collective Chaos. She manages the group now. With help from local community curators like DJ Paradigm, they were able to perform at the Gold Mouth Garage Pre-Dreamville event, and Professor X had his own set at the Dreamville patron house. He says Dreamville has elevated the awareness of artists and DJs in the triangle by attracting people from outside of the state and creating interest in the local arts scene.
“‘[They] ask what’s happening, what’s happening in Raleigh’.. You know? ‘Oh, the mayor is DJing over here. Who’s DJ Mayor? Let me check him out. He’s fire. DJ sicko is doing something that venom.’ You know, I’m just giving examples, but that’s what I love about this community too, the fact that we getting exposed [in] another light, and it’s only because of Dreamville,” he exclaimed. “Well, I ain’t gone say it’s only because of Dreamville, but Dreamville [is] a huge factor, and it’s unfortunate that this is the last one. But you know, we just going to take advantage of the situation. You know what I mean? We just going to take full advantage of it.”
Taking advantage extends outside events for Professor X and Sazi, it means platforming other aspiring creatives through trainings like cocktail classes and DJ101 courses.
“When we had our DJ101 class recital…just to see, like, where they started it to now. I think me and DJ damala, you know, we on the same lineup together now, you know what I mean,” he said. “So just to see, like, where she’s at and how she started…she posted a video just the other day of like, me teaching her how to DJ. You know, we really helping and healing people through music, like folks are really dancing and have a good time, and that’s what I love.
At the end of J. Cole’s set, he divulged the continuation of the festival. Even though it won’t dawn the Dreamville name, it will have the same “family reunion” vibe. Sazi thinks this will present an opportunity for the community in Raleigh to come together and develop other events that keep the same energy.
“You can plug more opportunities for smaller people to create the platform. And I do think Dreamville did a really good job at like, setting it up right Then maybe the smaller creators can kind of take on that torch, you know, and do something for the city, for the city, you know, from people from the city.”
Every week, you can catch a Sazi event or an eclectic Mix from Collective Chaos, whether it’s Heart and Soul Tuesdays at Bistro 401, Throwback Thursdays at Glow Fitness in Raleigh or Missy Lanes and Unscripted in Durham. To plug in, follow them on Instagram @CollectiveChaos919 and @LifeofSazi.
