''Revenge of the Dreamers'' is the first compilation album by American

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

Dreamville Records Dreamville Records is an American record label founded by American rapper J. Cole and his manager Ibrahim Hamad. The label is currently distributed through Interscope Records, a unit of Universal Music Group. The roster includes Bas (rapper), B ...

and was released on January 28, 2014. The album includes contributions by Dreamville artists,

J. Cole Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained recognition as a rapper following the release of his d ...

Bas Bas may refer to: People * Bas (name), a given name and a surname * Bas (rapper) (born 1987) Chemistry * Boron arsenide (BAs), a chemical compound * Barium sulfide (BAs), a chemical compound Other uses * ''bas'' (French for "low"), as in bas ...

, Omen, K-Quick as well as Treasure Davis. Producers on this album include, J. Cole, Omen, Ron Gilmore, Cedric Brown, K-Quick, and Jay Kurzweil. The project is the first in the series and spawned two sequels: ''

Revenge of the Dreamers II ''Revenge of the Dreamers II'' is the second compilation album by American record label Dreamville Records and was released on December 8, 2015. The album includes contributions by Dreamville artists, J. Cole, Bas, Cozz, Omen, Lute, and Ari L ...

'' (2015) and ''

Revenge of the Dreamers III ''Revenge of the Dreamers III'' is the third compilation album by American record label Dreamville, released on July 5, 2019, by Dreamville and Interscope Records. ''Revenge of the Dreamers III'' includes contributions from Dreamville artists, J. ...

'' (2019).

Background

On January 28, 2014, at a show at the

Theater at Madison Square Garden The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden is a theater located in New York City's Madison Square Garden. It seats between 2,000 and 5,600, and is used for concerts, shows, sports, meetings, and other events. It is located beneath the main Madison ...

, Cole announced that his Dreamville imprint had signed a distribution deal with

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

, which celebrated his 29th birthday. Attendees at the show received a flyer announcing the deal and a copy of the mixtape, while officially announcing the signing of

. J. Cole explained the deal with ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' saying: The tracks "Golden Goals" and "Lit" are featured on the album ''

Last Winter ''Last Winter'' is the debut studio album by American Rapping, rapper Bas (rapper), Bas. It was released on April 29, 2014, by Dreamville Records, and Interscope Records. The album debuted at No. 103 on Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200, selling 3 ...

'' (2015), and the track "Motion Picture" is featured on the album ''

Elephant Eyes ''Elephant Eyes'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Omen and was released on July 21, 2015 by Dreamville Records Dreamville Records is an American record label founded by American rapper J. Cole and his manager Ibrahim Hamad. The ...

''.

Critical reception

The average rating of the mixtape from editors at ''HotNewHipHop'' was a 76%, and said "With the launch of Dreamville, it’s clear that J. Cole is about to step things up career-wise, and this mixtape serves as a great introduction to the crew. While we've heard from Bas, Omen and the others before, it was more in passing we didn't always pay them much attention. This tape does a good job at shining some light on them, while Cole plays a supportive role." Jake Rohn from

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

praised the label saying "the North Carolina-born MC is looking to pass on some of that shine to a few up-and-coming artists of his own with a new label home at Interscope for his Dreamville Records and the imprint's major label debut mixtape, Revenge of the Dreamers." He continued to say "Like Jermaine himself, his artists seem to understand the need to create a good song in addition to being apt lyrically. While it's still too early to tell who's got real star power, Cole just might wind up bequeathing that Roc chain to one of his artists someday."

Track listing

References

{{Omen (musician) Record label compilation albums 2014 compilation albums J. Cole albums Dreamville Records albums Southern hip hop compilation albums