J. Cole

J. Cole turned an early run of mixtapes into one of rap’s most consistent album careers. Born Jermaine Lamarr Cole on January 28, 1985, on a military base in Germany, he was raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He moved to New York City for college while pursuing music, and gained initial attention with his 2007 debut mixtape, The Come Up. Jay-Z signed him to Roc Nation in 2009, which released The Warm Up that year and Friday Night Lights in 2010, widening his audience before his commercial debut.

Cole World: The Sideline Story arrived in 2011, beginning a run in which each of his studio albums reached the top of the Billboard 200. Its follow-up, Born Sinner (2013), produced the top-40 singles “Power Trip,” featuring Miguel, and “Crooked Smile,” featuring TLC, while “Work Out” from his debut also reached the Billboard Hot 100’s top 40. Cole’s later albums, including 2014 Forest Hills Drive, 4 Your Eyez Only, and KOD, moved toward more conscious and introspective material. KOD became the first album since the Beatles in 1964 to place six songs in the Billboard Hot 100’s top 20 simultaneously.

His sixth album, The Off-Season, was released in 2021 and included “My Life” with 21 Savage and Morray, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. His 2026 album The Fall-Off, marketed as his final album, also generated several top-40 entries upon release. As a guest artist, Cole reached number two with Lil Durk’s 2023 single “All My Life” and number one with Drake’s “First Person Shooter.” He is also self-taught on piano and has largely produced his own projects, while contributing production to recordings by Kendrick Lamar, Janet Jackson, Young Thug, Wale, and Mac Miller.

Beyond his solo work, Cole founded Dreamville Records, along with its media company and non-profit. The label has signed artists including JID, Ari Lennox, Bas, and EarthGang, and released four compilation albums. Revenge of the Dreamers III debuted atop the Billboard 200 in 2019 and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. Cole has won two Grammy Awards from 17 nominations, as well as a Billboard Music Award, three Soul Train Music Awards, and eight BET Hip Hop Awards. His albums, including Revenge of the Dreamers III, have received platinum certification from the RIAA. In 2015, he began providing rent-free housing for single mothers at his childhood home in Fayetteville, and he is a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets.