J. Cole

J. Cole

Jermaine Cole (born March, 13 1985), better known by his stage name J. Cole, American rapper and producer. He is best known for being the first artist to be signed to Jay-Z's label Roc Nation.

Life and career

Cole was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and then shortly after moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, where he was raised by his mother. Cole attended Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville, and graduated in 2003. He decided that he had a better chance of getting signed in New York City, so he used college as a way to get there. He attended St. John's University on an academic scholarship where he majored in communication and minored in business, graduating magna cum laude.

J Cole started rapping at the age of 12 when his cousin showed him the basics of rhyming. Inspired by Tupac Shakur, Nas, and Outkast, J. Cole developed a love for telling stories in his lyrics. At age 15, J. Cole had notebooks filled with rhymes but not beats of his own to lay them on. His mother bought him a beat machine so he could produce music himself. By the age of 17, he was posting songs on internet forums such as canibus-central.com under the moniker "Therapist".

Cole released his debut mixtape, The Come Up, in late 2007 after graduating college. J. Cole put his mixtape The Come Up hosted by DJ On Point including "soul filled sound beds, raw, energetic drums and an endless range of topics everything from the carefree days of college to the seemingly endless plight of those have-nots scrapping for change" Jay-Z signed Cole after hearing one of the songs, "Lights Please." He released his second mixtape, The Warm Up, on June 15, 2009. Following the release of The Warm Up, he released the freestyle "Back to the Topic."

Cole appeared on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint 3, on the track "A Star Is Born." He is featured on Wale's debut album, Attention Deficit, after being featured on Wale's mixtape. Cole also worked with producer No I.D. for his upcoming debut album. Most recently, he was touring with Jay-Z on the Blueprint 3 tour. He is reported to go on tour with both Jay-Z and Young Jeezy in 2010, the year that his first album is expected to be released.

In early 2010, Cole was chosen as one of Beyond Race Magazine's "50 Emerging Artists," he ranked 49, resulting in the cover story of the publication's #11 issue, as well as a Q&A for the magazine's site. He was also featured in XXL magazine's 2010 version of Top Ten Freshmen.

In January 2010, Cole, along with Jay Electronica Young G from Trap Boyz Entertainment & Mos Def appeared on Talib Kweli's single, "Just Begun" for the follow-up of Reflection Eternal's album Train Of Thought, called "Revolutions Per Minute". Cole has also appeared on B.o.B's mixtape May 25th (released in February 2010) in the song Gladiators. On March 31st, he performed a new song titled "Who Dat", which will be the first single from his debut album. Cole was also featured on Young Chris' song "Still the Hottest" as well as Miguel's "All I Want Is You."

Roc Nation/Columbia Records Artist J. Cole has recently hit the road for a college tour from March 19, 2010 to April 30, 2010 concluding in New Brunswick, NJ at Rutgers University's annual Rutgersfest.

Discography

Mixtapes

• 2007: The Come Up
• 2009: The Warm Up (J. Cole Mixtape)

Albums

• Summer 2010: TBA (Tentatively "Cole World" or "The Blow Up")

Singles

• 2009: "Lights Please"
• 2010: "Who Dat?"

External links

• Official site
• Template:MySpace