Anticipation for headliners J. Cole and Nicki Minaj built steadily throughout day two of Raleigh’s Dreamville festival. Despite persistent audio issues, performers like Rae Sremmurd, Key Glock and numerous guest stars elevated the energy for 52,000 attendees all day.

After settling in during day one, Dreamville was ready to turn up for day two. You could feel the buzz in the crowd even during the first two relatively unknown artists, Chase Shakur and TiaCorine. 

People packed in tight, shouted loud and danced hard. When Chase Shakur left the stage, the crowd even cheered for an encore, despite it being only 15 minutes into the 11-hour festival. 

Ryan Hargrove from Raleigh said after learning the lay of the land during day one, day two was easier to enjoy.

“This is my first time here, so I feel like day one is a little bit overwhelming,” Hargrove said. “But definitely day two, I know where to go, how to do it and everything.”

Omen, Cozz and Hunxho further elevated the mood in the afternoon by introducing new music and interacting with the crowd. Omen stood out by writing one of his raps on-stage, then free-styling it for the crowd to raucous applause. 

But it was when Key Glock took the stage around 3:15 p.m. that fans started getting truly hype. Key Glock’s energy was infectious, using the musical intro to his song “Gang S— No Lame S—” to build up his entrance. He followed up with hits “Ambition for Cash” and “Mr. Glock,” using energized dancers, bursts of steam and mosh pits to keep the crowd clamoring for more.

Things took a turn when it was time for Monica’s set. She didn’t appear on stage until the last few minutes of her set, likely due to audio issues that persisted on the “Rise” stage for the rest of the day.

Fortunately, Rae Sremmurd helped fans forget all about their disappointment for what was arguably the best set of the day.

The Mississippi-based brothers played banger after banger with “No Type,” “This Could Be Us” and “Not So Bad,” even breaking out Swae Lee’s solo hit “Sunflower” to massive excitement from the crowd. The sun was just beginning to set as Rae Sremmurd finished their set, and their performance combined with the excitement of the impending headliners created an electric atmosphere in Dorothea Dix Park.

Things went smoothly for Jeezy, but Nigerian star Rema’s set was plagued with audio issues. Rema was clearly excited to be there, proclaiming how grateful he was to share his style and represent Africa, but the sound on stage was so muddled — even cutting out entirely at points — that Rema walked off stage early.

Fans were further disappointed when they flocked to the stage for Nicki Minaj and waited over an hour after her start time for her performance. 

Nathalie Osso from Miami said she was disappointed she had to wait for Nicki Minaj, but it was a small price to pay compared to the other acts.

“It’s unfortunate that the time was at 8, and it’s 8:58, and she’s not here,” Osso said. “It would be nice if … the production team, or like the event staff would announce like, ‘Oh, she’s gonna be late,’ or, ‘She’s not gonna be here’ or just anything, like it would be nice. But everything else has been great.”

Still, when Nicki finally took the stage — right when J. Cole was scheduled to start — fans didn’t hold a grudge. 

She featured hits “Super Bass” and “Anaconda” backed by neon graphics and flashing laser beams. When Nicki Minaj rapped “MONSTER,” she stopped the music to let the crowd scream, basking in the crowd’s incredible energy. Her most hype song was “Everybody,” which featured hard-hitting vocals, a crew of backup dancers and high-powered dancing from the Barb herself. 

Despite the delay in her set, every song was a crowd pleaser, and when she let fans go for the final set of the day, she expressed love, gratitude and blessed every single person who had supported her.

The tension was at an all-time high as fans flocked to watch J. Cole. Attendees had been looking forward to the final headliner for both 11-hour days, and you could feel the agitation in the “J. Cole” chants surging through the packed crowd. 

When the lights finally dimmed and the horns of his opening song, “MIDDLE CHILD,” began to blare, all of the pent-up tension snapped and people went wild. 

J. Cole played in front of a replica of Fayetteville’s iconic Market House, paying homage to his home city throughout the set. He played “Wet Dreamz,” “No Role Modelz” and “Love Yourz,” blending new music and old to highlight his diverse discography.

He brought out a slew of guest performers, including Black Wutang, Benny the Butcher, Lil Yachty and more, taking time to praise the lyricism of each performer. He announced and performed his new song “All My Life,” with Lil Durk to great excitement from the audience. 

Most surprisingly, J. Cole took a break in his set to publicly apologize to Kendrick Lamar. The two rappers had beef after J. Cole released his diss track, “7 Minute Drill,” last Friday. J. Cole proclaimed he released the track after facing immense public pressure to do so, but the track “sat on his spirit,” contradicting much of the gratitude he feels to greats like Lamar.

He asked for Lamar’s forgiveness before continuing his set. He invited the rest of Dreamville records on stage, playing “Down Bad,” with the whole crew rapping without music to showcase their lyrical prowess. 

Much of J. Cole’s set was stripped and edited to demonstrate the craft of each song, with J. Cole himself proclaiming one of the best parts about Dreamville was appreciating the artistry of rap.

Alex Franco from Miami agreed and said a special part of Dreamville is how it inspires attendees.

“I feel like Dreamville for me is, I guess, a valley of where things could possibly happen that are considered impossible,” Franco said. “I’m sure there’s a lot of people here that get inspired by these artists, and this is a good place for them to start. … I feel like this is an opportunity, a door opening for artists as an inspiration for people to pursue their dreams, whatever they decide to do.”

Golden fireworks shot in the sky as J. Cole closed out his set. Fans flocked to the exit, the remnants of music still ringing in their ears, and Dreamville Festival 2024 cemented itself as an event to remember.