Jermaine Lamarr Cole was born on January 28 of the year 1985, thus making J. Cole 28 years old. He is an American hip-hop recording artist and record producer. Cole was born in Frankfurt, Germany but moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina when he was just eight months. His ethnic background is African-American and White.

Early Life

He began rapping at the age of 12. Although he did not fully take it serious until he turned 15 when he joined a local group by the name of Bomb Shelter. He grew up with a love for rap music and basketball. Cole went to Terry Sanford High School and graduated in the year 2003. He studied the guitar in high school under the artist Mark Ebert. Cole believed that his best chance of getting a record deal was in New York City therefore he attended St. John's University on an academic scholarship. He majored in communications and minored in business and graduated with honors.

Music Career

J. Cole, inspired by rappers Canibus and Tupac, started rapping at the age of 12 when he was shown the basics of rhyming and word play from his cousin. By age 15 J Cole had tons of notebooks filled with lyrics but he had no beats to record them with. By the time he turned 17 he was posting up music on many internet forums trying to get recognized. Not so long after graduating from university J. Cole dropped his first mixtape - The Come Up, in the year 2007. The mixtape did not bring him fame or recognition. J. Cole was finally given a record deal and was signed onto the label Roc Nation by Jay-Z in the year 2009, the same year he released his second mixtape - The Warm Up. He was also featured on one of Jay-Z's albums - The Blueprint 3, on the track called "A Star is Born," that same year. He was also featured on many other tracks and albums the following year. He was even chosen as one of the "50 Great Breakthrough Artists" in a magazine called Beyond Race. His first seen music video was for the first single on his debut album - "Who Dat" and was premiered on a highly watched show - 106 & Park on BET. His debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story" was released on September 27,2011. The album made number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. To see his other mixtapes released click here.

Upcoming Work

In the year 2012 Cole was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys and even played at the NBA All-Star Weekend Celebrity Game. On February 14, 2013 he released the first single to his second album, Born Sinner, called 'Power Trip.' Born Sinner is said to be released on June 25th, 2013 which he himself produced the majority of.