J. Cole’s Dreamville collective have been tapped to executive produce the upcoming Creed III soundtrack, further cementing them as Hip Hop heavyweights.
Michael B. Jordan, who plays the titular character in the Rocky spinoff series, announced the news during a panel at ComplexCon 2022 in Long Beach, California over the weekend.
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“I’m probably gonna get in trouble,” Jordan said toward the end of the panel, which also featured fellow Creed III star Jonathan Majors. “Dreamville is executive producing this album.”
Further details about the soundtrack remain scarce for now.
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The third installment in the boxing trilogy, Creed III finds Michael B. Jordan reprising his role as Adonis “Donnie” Creed while making his directorial debut. Majors stars as Damian “Dame” Anderson, Creed’s childhood friend and former boxing prodigy, who re-emerges from prison to challenge Creed in the ring.
Although it marks the first Rocky film without Sylvester Stallone in his familiar role as Rocky Balboa, Creed III also stars Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris, Phylicia Rashad and Florian Munteanu. The film hits theaters on March 3, 2023.
Meanwhile, Dreamville — comprised of J. Cole, J.I.D, Ari Lennox, Bas, EarthGang, Cozz, Lute and Omen — have only continued to solidify themselves as one of Hip Hop’s leading labels in 2022.
This year has seen critically-acclaimed releases from J.I.D (The Forever Story), Ari Lennox (Age/Sex/Location) and EarthGang (Ghetto Gods), in addition to the crew’s D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape hosted by DJ Drama.
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While his own output has been limited to a series of show-stealing guest verses, Cole has continued to put the ‘Ville on his back by becoming the first rapper to cover NBA 2K23, in addition to appearing in the game alongside Bas and long-time Dreamville producer Elite.
Dreamville previously ventured into Hollywood by launching Dreamville Films in 2015, through which they partnered with HBO to release the J. Cole documentaries Road to Homecoming, Forest Hills Drive: Homecoming and 4 Your Eyez Only.
The North Carolina crew are just the latest Hip Hop collective to helm a major movie soundtrack in recent years. In 2018, Top Dawg Entertainment curated Black Panther: The Album, which featured original music from the label’s all-star roster including Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Jay Rock, ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul, as well as The Weeknd, Future, Travis Scott and others.
The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 after earning over 150,000 units in its first week and yielded eight nominations at the 2019 Grammy Awards, taking home the trophy for Best Rap Performance thanks to Jay Rock, Kendrick, Future and James Blake’s “King’s Dead” collaboration.
