J. Cole

J. Cole – born Jermaine Cole on January 28, 1985, in Frankfurt, Germany - is an American rapper whose albums and singles have had huge success on Billboard's charts since the release of his debut full-length, Cole World: The Sideline Story, in 2011. Nominated for five Grammy Awards including Best New Artist in 2011, he's had 37 singles on Billboard's Hot 100 with four of those becoming Top 10 hits. J. Cole has also landed 56 tracks on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs Chart with 14 of them hitting the Top 10. The first six studio albums by J. Cole - including Born Sinner (2013), 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014), 4 Your Eyez Only (2016), KOD (2018), and The Off-Season (2021) – reached Number 1 on both the Billboard 200 and R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Born on an American military base in Germany, he spent his youth in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Although he grew up playing violin in the Terry Sanford Orchestra, rapping attracted him in his teens. While attending college in New York City, he began posting tracks on the Internet. He released mixtapes titled The Come Up (2007) and The Warm-Up (2009) and made guest appearances on tracks by Jay Z, Wale, Talib Kweli and B.o.B. After several tours with high profile artists, he released his debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story (2011), followed by Born Sinner (2013), 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014), 4 Your Eyez Only (2016), and KOD (2018). While his career has grown over the years, J. Cole has been involved with several controversies including an altercation with P. Diddy at the MVT Music Awards in 2013 and rap/twitter feuds with Lil Pump, Smokepurpp, NoName, and others. In 2020, J. Cole released the non-album single “Snow on the Bluff,” a track that addressed the murder of George Floyd. In 2021, he released the album The Off-Season, which featured guest appearances from 21 Savage & Morray, Bas, Lil Baby, and 6 Black. The Off-Season reached the Top 10 in several countries including Australia, Sweden, Finland, the UK, and Belgium. The album hit the Number 1 spot on the album charts in the US, Norway, New Zealand. Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, and Ireland. In April 2024, J. Cole released the surprise mixtape, Might Delete Later, which rose to the top of Billboard’s R&B / Hip-Hop Albums chart. The double album, The Fall-Off, featuring tracks "Two Six," "Man Up Above," and "SAFETY," was released in February of 2026 and was intended to be J. Cole's final release.