Courtney Shanade Salter (born March 26, 1991),[3][1] better known by her professional name Ari Lennox, is an American singer and songwriter from Washington, D.C. She is signed to J. Cole's record label, Dreamville Records.[4][5] She released her first EP on the label on October 21, 2016 titled Pho, where she began gaining recognition. Her debut studio album Shea Butter Baby was released on May 7, 2019.
Ari Lennox began uploading her music on the internet in 2012 as she released her debut mixtape, Five Finger Discount, and debut EP, Ariography, in 2013. In 2014, she continued to releasing her music on the internet including her independently released single "Bound".[6] On July 21, 2015, she was featured on Omen's album Elephant Eyes on the track "Sweat it Out".[7] Later that year, her music was circulating around the Dreamville team, as J. Cole wanted her to work with him on some references for Rihanna.[8]

On December 8, it was announced that she was signed to Dreamville Records. She made an appearance on the collaborative album Revenge of the Dreamers II, on the track "Backseat" with Cozz.[9][10] On October 21, 2016, she released her debut EP titled Pho.[11] Ari Lennox later appeared on J. Cole's song "Change", and performed as an opening act on the 4 Your Eyez Only Tour during 2017.[12] Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.