J. Cole

Jermaine Lamarr Cole is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained attention as a rapper following the release of his debut mixtape, The Come Up, in early 2007. He attended college in New York City with intent in furthering his musical career, and signed with Jay-Z's Roc Nation in 2009; the label released his next two mixtapes: The Warm Up and Friday Night Lights, both of which earned him wider recognition. Each of Cole's studio albums has peaked atop the US Billboard 200, beginning with his debut, Cole World: The Sideline Story, and its follow-up, Born Sinner. Both met with critical acclaim, the albums spawned the Billboard Hot 100-top 40 singles "Work Out", "Power Trip", and "Crooked Smile". His subsequent albums—beginning with 2014 Forest Hills Drive, 4 Your Eyez Only, and KOD —have since explored more conscious and introspective subject matter; the latter featured a then-record six simultaneous top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100—the first time an album had done so since the Beatles in 1964. From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Cole) under Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)