Jermaine Lamarr Cole, better known of course by his stage name J. Cole, is one of the greatest rappers alive, not just because of his music but mostly how he immensely relates to his listeners. Anytime someone tells me why J. Cole is their favorite rapper the most common thing I hear is how relatable he is to them. As some of you may know J.Cole (age 31) is from North Carolina. He is always repping his hometown city of Fayetteville and has famously nicknamed it “The Ville”. But what you may not know is that J.Cole was actually born in Frankfurt, Germany on January 28, 1985.
Before we all knew him as J.Cole, he used to go by the rap name “Blaza” and later “Therapist.” He explained on MTV’s “When i was at 17” how that name came into existence. “We used to look through the dictionary for rap names,” he says, “I could never find nothing. One day these dudes [Bomb Shelter] were like, ’Yo, we got a name for you, it’s Therapist,’ ”. J Cole took the name because one of his friend, Nervous Reck, thought Cole would make it work by playing up the doctor angle. “I was like maybe it could work, you just gotta play on the whole doctor image and being therapeutic and your music is therapeutic,” Nervous Reck explains.
Just by him looking for his stage name in the dictionary is just one of the many reasons why one should listen to J. Cole. Which leads me to my first reason. This man is smart and educated meaning he knows exactly what he talks about in his music. J.Cole received an academic scholarship to St. John’s University where he majored in Communications and Business. When he graduated in 2007, he had a 3.8 grade-point average and earned Magna Cum Laude honors.
Although he occasionally raps about “bitches and weed”, which is usually a negative term in the hip hop world when it comes to real rap and is usually used to denounce rappers, J cole does this in a different way because he doesn't do the typical downgrading of women and the rapping of the typical lifestyle of smoking weed but raps about what he actually went through. For example on “wet dreams” his 3rd song on his third studio album “2014 forest Hills Drive” he talks about how he broke his virginity and reminisces about his first time with a girl. He puts on the typical play-it-cool attitude when in reality all he knows about are wet dreams. Most people would relate to this type of situation because actual studies show that men are more likely to over-report the number of sexual partners due to their gender and how society judges them. In his 4th songs in 2014 Forest Hills Drive, he details his innermost thoughts. The issues he touches on include low self-esteem, troubles with women, and the misapprehension that the “live free” life is fantastic. The 18-year-old Cole details typical teenage activities like smoking blunts, talking about girls and planning to get rich quick.
J. Cole is very relatable as you can tell from the previous paragraph. Like most teenagers, J cole plays basketball and he is very good at it. J. Cole was a walk-on player at St. John’s University, a Division I Men’s Basketball program. However, he never showed up when he was called back by the team and focused on music instead. Turns out, he chose the right career path. He’s not shy about his basketball abilities, however, because J.Cole has shown off his skills in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game. J Cole is also quite inspiring for all the young musicians or artists who are tryna get their stuff out there. Back in 2006, one of J.Cole’s friends was an intern at Def Jam Records and she invited him to a party where Jay-Z was in attendance. J.Cole wore a shirt that read, “Produce for Jay-Z or Die Tryin’.” At the party, Jay-Z walked past him and never noticed his shirt.Like many artists trying to make it big, they just want their mixtapes heard. At age 17, J.Cole stood outside Jay-Z’s music studio for three hours for a chance to meet Jay-Z and give him a beat he produced. When Jay-Z came out, he was immediately rejected. Years later, J.Cole was eventually signed to the record label, Roc Nation, owned by Jay-Z.
J. Cole knows the struggle and he has done something for his fans that know the struggle (of expensive ticket prices that is). While struggling to get his rap career going, J.Cole was short on rent many times while living in New York. His landlord was kind enough to let him slide a few times after he promised to pay him back. When J.Cole finally did get signed to a record deal, he paid back his landlord all the money he owed plus interest. J. Cole is known for his dollar and a dream tour which is a ten-city U.S. tour where admission to his show was only $1. J.Cole wanted his fans to enjoy great lyrical music and understand that you can accomplish your dreams (seeing J. Cole Live), even if you were down to your last dollar.
J. Cole is among the best. While people may be arguing who's better between Kendrick and Cole, J.Cole has shown and proven that he is definitely one of the best. J.Cole had announced a release date of June 25, 2013, for his second album: Born Sinner. However, when it was announced that Kanye West's Yeezus would be released just one week earlier on June 18, J.Cole moved the release date of Born Sinner up a week in order to compete with West. He said, "This is art, and I can't compete against Kanye West and the status that he's earned from being a genius, but I can put my name in the hat and tell you that I think my album is great and you be the judge and you decide." J.Cole’s album ended up beating Kanye’s in total albums sold.
So whether you're a college student trying to pay off your loans, a basketball player who might dream of more than just making it to the NBA or just an artist who is just tryna get their music out there J.Cole probably relates to you. Basically, J.Cole relates to anyone who dreams one day of making it big.. His perseverance after failing time after time to work with one of the industry's' biggest artists does not go unnoticed and he makes sure his fans know to chase their dreams. He also was the first artist to have a platinum with no features proving and teaching us that anything is possible even by yourself. J. Cole does not just make music but he tells stories and his music is the most relatable to anyone that has gone through the struggles and want to make something out of themselves. I highly recommend J. Cole's latest studio album “2014 Forest Hills Drive” a personal album that talks about Love (Love Yourz), class and race (Fire Squad) and relationships (Wet Dreamz), and some funny but true humor (No Role Modelz).
