Ari Lennox Slams Record Label In Emotional Plea For Release: “Stop Playing With Me” 

Ari Lennox wants off her label, blasting Dreamville and Interscope for not respecting her wishes and releasing projects she’s uncomfortable with. 

On Tuesday night (October 29), the R&B singer took to Instagram with a scathing rant. Lennox believes she’s being portrayed as the “face of mental health” and claims she told her label not to release the video for her latest song, “Smoke,” set in a mental institution but was ignored. She then accused the label of trying to “manipulate” her to change her mind. 

However, Ari Lennox has had enough. 

“Interscope and Dreamville have been playing with me all month and I’m so exhausted,” she wrote on her IG Stories. “I’m so tired of people treating me like they’re sorry for me and like I’m the face of mental health. I’m ok and I’ve never been happier. What I don’t like is being signed and lied to and manipulated. Not one person at those labels ever knew how to market or protect me. Y’all don’t know the half. Constant let down and neglect. This industry stuff will never be for me.” 

Ari Lennox Tells Label: “Y’all Are Not Gonna Manipulate Me”

Furthermore, Lennox followed up with a heartfelt video calling to be released from her label. 

“It’s not okay so I just want to be released and it’s just that simple,” she explained. “And I’m tired of being nice and I was trying to do everything the right way but now I’m p#####. This was my final straw. I have communicated effectively and no one cares, so we’re here, in toxic-ass social media world.” 

Ari Lennox began her video by stating how she was tired of trying to do the right thing and not being taken seriously. 

She continued, “I told management I didn’t want this recent video to come out because I’m tired of people treating me like I’m the face of mental health. I’m tired of people treating me like they’re so sorry for me. I’m a human being who has just been very transparent about my life.” 

According to Lennox, she wanted to reclaim the narrative with her upcoming album but now feels defeated.    

“There’s nothing that I will ever be able to do to try to repair my reputation,” she added. “Because at the end of the day people are hell bent on painting me as this insecure person who is just the face of mental health.” 

Lennox claims management and her label confirmed that the “Smoke” video would come down only to be informed “The people in charge of the video were unresponsive,” but everybody loved the visuals, so the video would stay up. 

“No,” she said. “Y’all are not gonna manipulate me. Like y’all are going to be accountable for that Interscope. I told you I wasn’t comfortable with it.” 

Lennox added, “I just wish I had a label that cared, that would want to protect me. I wish I had a label that wouldn’t have me out here trying to explain why I need advertisement for my record. You cannot expect an artist to be anything without advertisement, like you can’t. Why am I begging for advertisement? Why am I paying for my own Google ads?” 

Ari Lennox found support from T-Pain in the comment section. He urged her to reach out to discuss how she can transition to independence. Check out Lennox’s rant above and T-Pain’s comment below.