J. Cole

J. Cole (2016)

Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985 in Frankfurt am Main , Germany ), known by his stage name J. Cole or King Cole , is a German-American rapper and music producer . He was the first artist to be signed to Jay-Z's record label Roc Nation .

Life

Childhood and youth

J. Cole was born on January 28, 1985 as the son of an African-American soldier in the US Army and a white German mother in the 97th General Hospital in the US military hospital in the north end of Frankfurt , which is now home to the American Consulate General . His father left the family when Cole was a baby. At the age of eight months, his mother moved with him and his older brother Zach to the United States, where they settled in Fayetteville , North Carolina . There Cole grew up most of his childhood in poor conditions in constantly changing accommodations. In order to provide for the family's income, his mother usually had several jobs at once. When Cole was eleven, his mother remarried, and the family moved to a house on Forest Hills Drive with the mother's new husband. Cole lived there until he was 18 years old. He attended Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville, where he stood out as a talented basketball player . He graduated from high school in 2003 with a GPA of 4.2. He then moved to New York City , where he majored in Communication and minor in Economics at St. John's University . He graduated in 2007 with the overall rating magna cum laude (“with great praise, very good”).

First experiences with rap

J. Cole began rapping at the age of 13 when his cousin taught him the basics of rhyming and wordplay. Most of Cole was inspired by rapper Tupac Shakur , but also by other artists such as Notorious BIG , Canibus , Nas , Eminem and Jay-Z . Cole developed a love for stories in his lyrics. By the age of 15, J. Cole had several notebooks filled with different rhymes, but he didn't have his own beats to put together with the rhymes. His mother bought him a Roland TR-808 beat machine with which Cole could ultimately produce his own music. At the age of 17, Cole broadcast his songs on various Internet forums under the nickname "Therapist" (German: "Therapist"). J. Cole stood in front of Jay-Z's label building for three hours to show him a beat that he was sampling from Idris Muhammad so that Jay-Z could sign him. However, Jay-Z avoided young rappers. Before J. Cole was signed by Roc Nation, he worked as a wholesaler. One morning he checked his cell phone and saw that he had received a message from an agent telling J. Cole to call him back. He went to the bathroom to reply to the message because he was not allowed to use his cell phone privately at work. When J. Cole called the employee back, he said that J. Cole had received a call from Jay-Z's management and that he should meet with them as soon as possible. J. Cole decided to stop working and left to change clothes and get ready for his meeting.

2007–2011: Mixtapes and Features

J. Cole in 2011

Cole released his debut mixtape, The Come Up , in November 2007 after graduating from college. Jay-Z signed Cole after hearing his song Lights Please . Before releasing his second mixtape, Cole released the single show Me Somethin ' for promotional purposes. He released his second mixtape, The Warm Up , on June 15, 2009. After The Warm Up was released, he released Back to the Topic .

Cole can be found as a feature on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint 3 . He works on the song A Star Is Born . He is also involved in the song Beautiful Bliss on Wales ' debut album Attention Deficit after appearing on Wales' mixtape Back to the Feature . Cole has also stated that he worked with producers like No ID , Pharrell , Jim Jonsin and Salaam Remi for his debut album. Cole opened up for Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 tour.

In the spring of 2010, Cole was voted number 49 on Beyond Race Magazine's “50 Great Artists Breakthroughs” .

In January 2010, Cole collaborated with Jay Electronica and Mos Def on Talib Kweli's and Hi-Teks single Just Begun . The song appeared on Reflection Eternals album Revolutions Per Minute . Cole also appeared on BoB's mixtape May 25 (released February 2010) on the song Gladiators . On April 27, 2010 he released the song Who Dat . Cole was also involved in Young Chris' song Still the Hottest and was featured on Miguel's song All I Want Is You . Cole also had a feature on We On by DJ Khaled .

J. Cole went on a college tour March 19 through April 30, 2010, graduating from Rutgers University's annual Rutgersfest in New Brunswick, NJ. The tour also included an appearance at Syracuse University alongside fellow rappers like Wiz Khalifa .

To celebrate the anniversary of the release of The Warm Up , J. Cole released the freestyle title The Last Stretch on June 15, 2010 . On June 21 of the same year, J. Cole's music video for his first single Who Dat was first shown on BET's 106 & Park .

On November 12, 2010 J. Cole released his third mixtape entitled Friday Night Lights . The tape includes features with Drake , Wale and Omen with most of the production handled by Cole with support from Syience, Bink & L&X Music. He also shot a video for In the Morning featuring Drake.

On January 17, 2011 J. Cole released a remix version of Rihanna's third single S&M from her fifth studio album Loud .

On March 14, 2011, J. Cole released a single called Killers . On April 25, 2011, Vibe listed him at number 5 on the list of the best living rappers under 30. J. Cole used to use analog technology to make his beats. But now he makes his beats digitally alone. He mixes his music in a program called "Recycle". Then he takes the sample and puts it in Logic . From there he has all of his samples cut and ready and can control everything from his keyboard. Recently, J. Cole has started his manufacturing process by first making his drum patterns and later adding a melody.

On May 22, 2011 J. Cole released the single entitled Return of Simba , the third single from the "Simba series" after Simba and Grown Simba . J. Cole was also nominated for the 2011 BET Award for Best New Artist. J. Cole was part of the opening act for Drake's Light Dreams and Nightmares UK Tour from January 5th to 21st 2011. He appeared in the UK in the fall of 2011 supporting Tinie Tempah during his 7-city Arena tour from October 31st to 8th November on.

J. Cole also supported Rihanna on the North American leg of her Loud Tour , which began on June 4, 2011 and ended in Barbados on August 5, 2011 .

Since 2011: debut album and commercial success

J. Cole wrote on May 4, 2011 via Twitter :

"All singles done. Album ridiculous. Title Perfect. Music incredible. Thank you for your patience. Let's change the game. "

- J. Cole

J. Cole kept the title of his debut album a secret for fear of inconsistency. He announced that Jay-Z could be heard on the album.

On September 27, 2011 his album Cole World: The Sideline Story was released .

During Cole 's last appearance on Rihanna's Loud Tour in Barbados , Cole directed the music video for his second single Can't Get Enough with Trey Songz (who appears as a guest performer on the song) and Rihanna.

On June 18, 2013, his second album Born Sinner was released to high expectations and after three weeks it reached number one on the American Billboard 200 charts. Aria Nejati wrote for Hiphop.de that the album shows “ hardly any weaknesses ” and that J. Cole “does what he does incredibly well”. He can only be blamed for “ the lack of diversity in his choice of topics ”. Overall, Cole shows "on his second album above all that he is developing at an extremely fast pace".

On December 9, 2014, J. Cole released his third studio album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, after it was announced just three weeks earlier. The album debuted at number one on the American Billboard charts and reached platinum status after just under four months as J. Cole's first album.

On December 1, 2016, the cover of the fourth studio album 4 Your Eyez Only was released, which was then released on December 9 with ten songs and received platinum award in the United States.

On April 17, 2018, the fifth studio album KOD was announced via Twitter and the date was announced at the same time.

As co-writer and guest rapper on the song A Lot by 21 Savage , he was recognized for the best rap song at the 2020 Grammy Awards .

Discography

→ Main article : J. Cole / Discography

Studio albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2011	Cole World: The Sideline Story Roc Nation / Columbia	-	-	CH62 (2 weeks) CH	UK25th silver (2 weeks)UK	US1 platinum (70 weeks)US	First published: September 27, 2011 Sales: + 1,060,000
2013	Born Sinner Dreamville / Roc Nation / Columbia	DE74 (1 week) DE	-	CH27 (2 weeks) CH	UK7th gold (7 weeks)UK	US1 platinum (105 weeks)US	First published: June 18, 2013 Sales: + 1,140,000
2014	2014 Forest Hills Drive Dreamville / Roc Nation / Columbia	-	-	CH49 (2 weeks) CH	UK27 gold (16 weeks)UK	US1 × 3 Triple platinum (… Where.)US	First published: December 9, 2014 Sales: + 3,135,000
2016	4 Your Eyez Only Dreamville / Roc Nation / Interscope	DE79 (1 week) DE	-	CH16 (1 week) CH	UK21st gold (11 weeks)UK	US1 platinum (69 weeks)US	First published: December 9, 2016 Sales: + 1,100,000
2018	KOD Dreamville / Roc Nation / Interscope	DE16 (3 weeks) DE	AT4 (2 weeks) AT	CH6 (3 weeks) CH	UK2 silver (11 weeks)UK	US1 platinum (72 weeks)US	First published: April 20, 2018 Sales: + 1,100,000

Web links

Commons : J. Cole  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pete Lewis: J. Cole interview. Blues & Soul , March 2011
2. ↑ ^{a b} 25 Things You Didn't Know About J. Cole. In: complex.com. June 10, 2013, accessed January 17, 2019 . 
3. ↑ J Cole announces tour! In: wybeaconnews.org. February 21, 2017, accessed August 19, 2017 . 
4. ^ Peter Badenhop: From the Air Force Hospital to the Diplomatic Center. In: faz.net . November 16, 2003. Retrieved August 19, 2017 . 
5. ↑ J. Cole Biography.com. In: biography.com. May 30, 2017. Retrieved August 19, 2017 . 
6. ^ Grant Brydon, Before Chiraq, There Was Fayettenam: J. Cole Takes Us Back To His Hometown. In: noisey.vice.com. May 18, 2015. Retrieved August 19, 2017 . 
7. ↑ J. Cole Reminisces On MTV's 'When I Was 17'. In: rap-up.com. November 12, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2017 . 
8. ↑ Jay-Z Protege J. Cole Takes Unusual Path to Stardom . ABC News.
9. ↑ J COLE: Bref Control, May 2011 ( Memento of the original from September 10, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ Nardwuar vs. J. Cole . Nardwuar napkin. Retrieved July 22, 2011.
11. ↑ ^{a b} Grime Daily meets J. Cole [interview 2011 ] . GrimeDaily. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
12. ↑ J. Cole - "Show Me Somethin '"
13. ^ J. Cole - "Back to the Topic" Freestyle
14. ↑ J. Cole to appear on Blueprint 3 . Rap basement. Retrieved August 18, 2009
15. ↑ beyondrace.com ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
16. ↑ Reflection Eternal - "Just Begun" feat. Jay Electronica, J. Cole, & Mos Def thatsthatish.com
17. ↑ J. Cole - "Knock On Wood" X "Gladiators" w / BoB
18. ↑ Thatsthatish.com: "J. Cole: 'Who Dat'"
19. ↑ thatsthatish.com
20. ↑ J. Cole - "We On"
21. ↑ Rapper Wiz Khalifa set to perform at SU after incarceration . ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. The Daily Orange  
22. ^ J. Cole - "Who Dat" music video
23. ↑ Download “Friday Night Lights”! . JColeMusic. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 19, 2011. 
24. ↑ rapdose.com
25. ↑ Best New Artist . BET. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
26. ↑ twitter.com
27. ↑ Peep This: Rihanna Hangs Out With J. Cole And Trey Songz At The 'Can't Get Enough' Shoot . Vibe
28. ↑ Aria Nejati: J. Cole - Born Sinner (Review). Hiphop.de, accessed on July 1, 2013 . 
29. ↑ rapradar.com
30. ↑ HipHopDX - http://hiphopdx.com : J. Cole's New Album Announcement Got The Internet Going Nutty . In: HipHopDX . ( hiphopdx.com [accessed April 17, 2018]).
31. ↑ J.Cole announces new album for next Friday. Accessed April 17, 2018 (German).