This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome Dreamville's own, Chevy Chase native, the talented, the funny, the soulful singer Ari Lennox to the Upper West Side! Ari talks growing up in the DMV area, skipping class to visit museums, how she worked on her vocal training, attending five high schools in four years, working at Old Navy, Pizza Hut and movie theaters, why she chose not to go to college, what led her to get on a Greyhound bus heading West, the fears of a bus ride like that, getting kicked out of her first LA apartment within a week, working as an extra in films, simplifying her sound, singing for the likes of Eric Benet, hoping that Beyonce would find her YouTube covers, working with Omen, the reaction to her song "Backseat," ending up in a relationship in Charlotte and working at a Public Storage when she got the call from Dreamville president Ib Hamad to fly back out to LA to work in the studio, meeting and writing with J.Cole, not getting signed as soon as she had hoped, going home, waiting, and months later making it formal with Dreamville. All that plus retirement talk, where the name "Ari Lennox" comes from, her friendships with the other Dreamville artists, Aries vs. Leos, her vocal coach Teapot, what in the world Commander Salamander is, and much, much more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices