Jay Cole is an American producer and hip hop artist. He is known to the public under the pseudonym J. Cole. The artist has long sought recognition of his talent. The rapper became popular after the presentation of the mixtape The Come Up.
J. Cole took place as a producer. Among the stars with whom he managed to collaborate are Kendrick Lamar and Janet Jackson. The celebrity is the "father" of Dreamville Records.
Childhood and youth of J. Cole
Jermaine Cole was born on January 28, 1985 at the US military base in Frankfurt (Germany). The head of the family is an African-American soldier from the United States. The mother of a celebrity by nationality is German. At one time, the woman served as a postman in the United States Postal Service.
Cole did not stay long in his father's care and love. Soon, dad left the family, and the mother and children had to leave for Fayetteville (North Carolina). There wasn't enough money. The guy always sought to help his mother, seeing how she is torn between work and household chores.
In his youth, he became interested in music and basketball. Hip-hop interested him when he was a teenager. Cole started rapping at the age of 13. Soon his mother gave him an ASR-X music sampler for Christmas. Gradually, the music captivated Cole.
The young man studied at Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville. After completing his secondary education, he became a student at St. John's University. In her youth, the future star managed to work as a newspaper seller, collector and archive employee.
The creative path of J. Cole
Cole saw himself exclusively on stage. Thanks to the work of Nas, Tupac and Eminem, he and his cousin began to work on the creation of rhymes. And also to improve the interpretation of narratives in texts.
The aspiring rapper got a notebook in which the outlines of the first tracks appeared. His mother then bought one of the first Roland TR-808 programmed drum machines. On it, the rapper recorded his first tracks. The time has come when Cole wanted to share his creativity with the public. He has published compositions on various music platforms under the pseudonyms Blaza and Therapist.
He soon filled the disc with his cons and after that he went to Jay-Z's recording studio in the hope of getting support. Cole spent three hours in the studio of a celebrity, but, unfortunately, Jay-Z refused the guy. Subsequently, the rapper used the rejected minuses to create his debut mixtape The Come Up.
Presentation of mixtapes The Warm Up and Friday Night Lights
In 2009, the presentation of the second mixtape The Warm Up took place. Then Cole received an invitation from Jay-Z to take part in the recording of The Blueprint 3 LP on the song A Star Is Born. Cole made a guest appearance at the launch of Wale's first studio album, Attention Deficit. The rapper's popularity increased exponentially.
A year later, Beyond Race reported that Cole was ranked 49th in the 50 Great Breakthrough Artists. And XXL magazine included him in their annual list of Top Ten Freshmen.
In the spring of the same 2010, J. Cole gave his fans a new track. We are talking about the song Who Dat. Cole later released the featured song as a single. The musician's voice can be heard on Miguel's debut single All I Want Is You, as well as on DJ Khaled Victory's LP.
In autumn, the presentation of the third mixtape Friday Night Lights took place. Guest verses went to rappers like Drake, Kanye West, Pusha T. It is noteworthy that Cole produced most of the record on his own.
Drake Light Dreams and Nightmares UK tour and rapper album production
A year later, the rapper went on tour with Drake Light Dreams and Nightmares UK. Cole was the show's opener. In the spring of 2011, the musician produced the first "foreign" album. He handled Kendrick Lamar's studio album HiiiPoWeR. In the summer he released his debut single WorkOut from the upcoming LP. Cole worked on the technical stage of the composition, borrowing samples from the Kanye West single The New Workout Plan and the Paula Abdul track Straight Up. As a result, WorkOut became a worldwide hit. The composition took a leading position in the prestigious music charts.
In mid-July, Cole presented Any Given Sunday, a weekly free music release in support of Kendrick Lamar's fifth studio album. Every week, the musician posted one track from the new disc free of charge.
But Cole's work didn't end there. Now the rapper decided to please the fans of his work. In 2011, he presented his debut studio album Cole World: The Sideline Story. The album started at the top of the Billboard 200 charts. Over 200 copies of the album were sold in the first week. In December, Cole World: The Sideline Story was certified gold by the RIAA.
In 2011, the rapper announced that he was working on a second studio album, which he released in the summer. In the fall, Cole performed as a "warm-up" for Tinie Tempah.
In the same year, the musician announced that he was working on a joint album with Kendrick Lamar. In July, after a long break, he presented The C's track about Tomure, in which he hinted to fans that the presentation of a new LP would take place soon. The presentation of the second studio album took place in 2013. The record was called Born Sinner.
New artist tracks
In the fall of 2014, the rapper, in response to the scandalous death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, presented the song Be Free. Three days later, he went to the scene to support the rebellious people. He was outraged by the arbitrariness of the police.
In 2014, the musician's discography was replenished with a third studio album. The record was called 2014 Forest Hills Drive. The LP topped the Billboard 200. In the first week of sales, fans bought over 300 copies of the record.
Cole announced that he would embark on a massive tour to support the compilation. 2014 Forest Hills Drive is the first compilation since 1990 to be certified platinum with no guests on the album.
In 2015, the rapper won the Top Rap Album at the Billboard Music Awards. It was later nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance and Best R'n'B Performance.
In December 2016, the artist shared the cover and track listing from the fourth album 4 Your Eyez Only. The album was officially released on December 9, 2016.
J. Cole's personal life
Only in 2016 did the details of the artist's personal life become known. He is happily married. Cole met his wife back in St. John's University. For a long time, lovers just met. Now his wife, Melissa Hyelt, is the executive director of the Dreamville Foundation.
Rapper Jay Cole today
In 2018, the rapper announced that he would be holding a free listening session for KOD's fifth album in New York and London especially for fans.
The rest of the "fans" who were unable to attend the exclusive presentation had to wait until April 20, 2018. The only "guest" on the LP was the rapper's alter ego, Kill Edward.
According to the artist, the title of the album is interpreted in three different meanings: Kids On Drugs, King Overdosed and Kill Our Demons. If you look at the cover, then such versions are quite suitable. In addition to the transcripts presented, there is a very popular version of King Of Dreamville on the Internet.
In support of the fifth studio album, the musician went on tour. The rapper was helped to light the audience by his colleagues in the music department: Young Thug, Jayden and EarthGang.
A year later, the rapper presented the track Middle Child. In the composition, Cole doesn't obsessively reflect on how he's kind of "stuck" between two generations of old school and new school hip hop. Later, a video clip was also released on the track, which gained several million views. In 2019, he announced that he was producing an album by rapper Young Thug.
The novelties from Cole did not end there. At the end of the summer of 2019, a trailer for the movie J. Cole Out of Omaha appeared on the Internet. Fans created forums to discuss the rapper's film.
In 2020, the Detroit Pistons found J. Cole on social media and invited the rapper to come to the screening to become part of their team. A week after that, Cole posted a video on the official account in which he practiced throwing a basket with a coach. The musician decided to fulfill his childhood dream - to become a professional NBA player.
J. Cole in 2021
J. Cole in May 2021 presented a new album to fans of his work. The collection was called The Off-Season. The plastic was topped by 12 tracks. Note that a few days before the presentation of the collection, the rapper presented the documentary Applying Pressure.
