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15 Things you don’t know about J. Cole
- Jermaine Lamarr Cole, better known by his stage name J. Cole, is an American hip-hop recording artist and record producer from Fayetteville, North Carolina.
- J. Cole was born on January 28, 1985.
- Cole was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on January 28, 1985.[2] His father is African-American and served in the United States Army,[3] and his mother is white.
- J. Cole started rapping at the age of 12, when his cousin showed him the basics of rhyming and word play. Inspired mostly by rappers Canibus and Tupac Shakur, Cole developed a love for telling stories in his lyrics.
- Cole took his music career serious at the age of 15 when he hooked up with a local group called Bomb Shelter, at which time he added production to his repertoire.
- J.Cole became the first artist to sign to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label In the year 2009.
- Cole’s childhood revolved around a love for both basketball and rap music. He attended Terry Sanford High School and decided to study guitar under the well-known artist Mark Ebert.
- When Cole graduated from high school in 2003. He chose to attend St. John’s University on an academic scholarship because he believed he had better chances of being signed in New York City. There, he majored in communication and minored in business.
- His mother bought him an 808 beat machine so he could produce music himself.
- By the age of 17, he was posting songs on various internet forums under the moniker “Therapist and he stood outside of Jay-Z’s Roc the Mic Studio for three hours in order to give him a beat called “On Top of the World” he sampled by Idris Muhammad. However, when Jay-Z came out of his building he rejected the up-and-coming rapper.
- In early 2010, Cole was chosen as one of Beyond Race Magazine’s “50 Great Breakthrough Artists,” he ranked 49.
- Cole served as a supporting act for Drake, on the Light Dreams and Nightmares UK Tour, which was in January 5–21, 2011.
- In December 2, 2011, “Cole World” The Sideline Story was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments and sales of 500,000 copies.
- J. Cole performed for the first time in Africa during the Big Brother Africa 7 opening ceremony on 6 May 2012, alongside Camp Mulla, P-Square, Naeto C, Flavour, Davido and Aemo E’Face
- J. Cole has been dating his girlfriend Melissa since his freshman year of college.
