J. Cole

Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985), better known as J. Cole, is a rapper and producer who was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He gained a passion for rap at a young age and first went by the names Blaza and Therapist (the latter was given to him by Bomb Sheltah, a respected rap group from Fayetteville) before settling on his own name. He first started getting recognition in 2007 with the release of his debut mixtape The Come Up. First, after a failed attempt to share a CD of his with Jay-Z, it would later be Hov, that would come to his attention after he heard Cole’s song “Lights Please”, Jay-Z would go on to make J. Cole his first signing to his then newly formed record label, Roc Nation, in 2009. Since then he has become one of the biggest names of the “new school” era, with the release of five platinum-certified albums. His debut release Cole World: The Sideline Story defied industry expectations by selling over 200,000 copies in its first week without a top 40 hit single at the time and his sophomore Born Sinner, saw him go head-to-head with Kanye West in a now-iconic sales battle in Hip-Hop. Before this, Cole released two pro…