60 Fun Facts About J. Cole

J. Cole was born in January 1985 on a US military base in which country?

West Germany: his father was a US Army soldier stationed in Frankfurt, and Cole was still a baby when his mother moved him and his older brother to North Carolina.

In which North Carolina city did J. Cole grow up?

Fayetteville is where his mother raised him and his brother, and where a teenage Cole worked at a skating rink, sometimes dressed as its kangaroo mascot.

What is J. Cole's real first name?

Jermaine Lamarr Cole tried out two invented rap names as a teenager before settling, by his first mixtape, on a short form of his real one.

Which instrument did J. Cole play as first chair in his high-school orchestra?

Violin: he rose to first chair in the Terry Sanford Orchestra while teaching himself to rap and make beats at home.

Before settling on J. Cole, the teenage rapper picked which stage name out of a dictionary?

Therapist replaced his first rap name, Blaza. He dropped it as well, and by his first mixtape he was using a short form of his real name.

What did J. Cole's mother buy him for Christmas when he was 15?

A musical sampler, an Ensoniq ASR-X, let him start producing his own beats, three years after he had begun rapping.

J. Cole moved to New York on a scholarship to which university?

St. John's, in Queens, was his way into New York, where he believed his chances of a record deal, and of reaching Jay-Z, were best.

Why did J. Cole, a 2007 graduate, not receive his degree until 2015?

He owed money for a library book, so the university held the degree back until his old professors handed him the diploma at a 2015 concert on campus.

After starting in computer science, J. Cole switched his college major to what?

Communications replaced computer science because, Cole has said, one programming professor was the loneliest, saddest man he had ever known.

What was the title of J. Cole's debut mixtape, released in 2007?

The Come Up arrived in the same year that Cole and a college friend began building Dreamville, which grew into his own record label.

J. Cole waited for hours outside a studio to hand Jay-Z a beat CD made for which album?

American Gangster was the 2007 album Cole hoped to land a beat on; Jay-Z brushed him off that day, then signed him less than two years later.

Which label, founded by Jay-Z, signed J. Cole in 2009?

Roc Nation made Cole its first signing in 2009, less than two years after Jay-Z had turned him away outside a recording studio.

J. Cole appears on the track A Star Is Born from which Jay-Z album?

The Blueprint 3 arrived months after Jay-Z signed him; on A Star Is Born, Jay-Z salutes rappers who have had their turn as stars, then hands a verse to Cole.

Which J. Cole project, released in November 2010, includes the track Villematic?

Friday Night Lights was built from songs first meant for his debut album; when they were turned down for it, he released them as a mixtape instead.

Which J. Cole single, built on a Kanye West sample, left his idol Nas disappointed?

Work Out samples Kanye West's The New Workout Plan. Nas's reaction moved Cole to write Let Nas Down, and Nas answered with Made Nas Proud.

What is the subtitle of Cole World, J. Cole's 2011 debut studio album?

The Sideline Story was already being mastered when Jay-Z phoned to stop the session so he could add a last-minute verse to Mr. Nice Watch.

Which rapper joins J. Cole on In the Morning, from his chart-topping 2011 debut album?

Drake heard Cole's solo original of In the Morning and asked him to save a spot if he ever redid it; Cole did, and the remake went onto his debut album.

Which superstar cameoed in the Can't Get Enough video while J. Cole opened her tour?

Rihanna made her cameo when the video was shot in Barbados, her home island, and Cole spent that summer as the opening act on her Loud Tour.

Which single from J. Cole's debut album features Missy Elliott?

Nobody's Perfect runs on a beat Cole made himself; he said it sounded like an Aaliyah record, which is why he asked for Missy Elliott.

J. Cole moved the release of Born Sinner up a week to go head to head with which Kanye West album?

Yeezus kept Born Sinner at number two in their shared first week, but Cole's album climbed to number one two weeks later.

Which singer features on J. Cole's 2013 single Power Trip?

Miguel got the hook after Cole, who had been singing it himself, played Power Trip for Jay-Z, whose first words were that Miguel should be on it.

Which girl group features on the Born Sinner single Crooked Smile?

TLC's T-Boz and Chilli sing the chorus; Cole built the song around his own uneven teeth, which he chose to keep after finding fame.

The Crooked Smile video was a tribute to which real victim of a 2010 police raid?

She was seven when Detroit police shot her during a raid on her home. Sheldon Candis directed the video.

A college-age J. Cole can be spotted in the crowd of which hip-hop concert film?

Block Party: Cole went to Dave Chappelle's Brooklyn show with his college roommate, and later said he tried to raise his hand when Chappelle called for rappers.

J. Cole's second Grammy came in 2024 for a guest verse on a hit single by which rapper?

Lil Durk said that if Cole had not taken the second verse of his 2023 single he would have asked Kanye West; it won Best Melodic Rap Performance.

No Role Modelz samples which US president stumbling over an old saying?

George W. Bush fumbled the proverb in a 2002 speech in Nashville; Cole plays the clip, then builds the bridge on the saying the president could not finish.

Which usual piece of promotion did J. Cole's hit No Role Modelz never receive?

A music video was never made for No Role Modelz, yet the song went on to be certified diamond, for ten million units in the US.

The video for Wet Dreamz acts out the song's story using what?

A pair of dogs play out Cole's story of his first time, while he and the woman he is pursuing appear simply as their owners.

Which song did J. Cole release in August 2014 after the police shooting of Michael Brown?

Be Free went online days after Michael Brown's death; Cole then travelled to Ferguson to meet protesters, and performed the song on Letterman that December.

The HBO concert film Forest Hills Drive: Homecoming was shot at which hometown arena?

Crown Coliseum was the goal: Cole says in the film that he never wanted to play a proper hometown show until he was big enough to sell it out.

4 Your Eyez Only was J. Cole's first album released through which major label, after three on Columbia?

Interscope came in through Dreamville, Cole's own imprint, which had announced a distribution deal with the label in January 2014 while his solo albums were still on Columbia.

On 4 Your Eyez Only, J. Cole tells a slain friend's story as a tape left for whom?

The friend's daughter is the listener: the closing title track reveals that nearly the whole album is a tape he made for her before he was killed.

KOD stands for Kids on Drugs, King Overdosed and which third phrase?

Kill Our Demons is the meaning Cole's album trailer calls the end goal: looking honestly at whatever is driving a person towards their chosen escape.

Under what name is J. Cole's alter ego credited on the two features on KOD?

Kill Edward is named after Cole's stepfather, Edward; the years after he left the family in 2003 fed the album's theme of addiction.

Which comedian's cheating scandal inspired a track on J. Cole's KOD, whose video he then starred in?

Kevin Hart plays himself in the video for Kevin's Heart, with all eyes on him in public, a nod to the fallout from his own infidelity.

On release day KOD broke Apple Music's US first-day album streaming record, set by which 2016 album?

Views set its mark when Apple Music had about 13 million subscribers; KOD beat it by almost a million streams once the service had 40 million.

KOD's closing track 1985 was taken as a reply to which rapper, who had teased a song insulting J. Cole?

Lil Pump had teased the insult track online; about a month after KOD the two sat down at Cole's own studio for an hour-long filmed conversation.

J. Cole's first Grammy came in 2020 for Best Rap Song, for A Lot, a collaboration with which rapper?

21 Savage met Cole at the Made in America festival, and an out-of-the-blue text from Cole led to the session; Cole took the track home to finish his verse.

Which producer made Middle Child with J. Cole in 2019?

T-Minus has said he and Cole found the horn loop online and finished Middle Child within a day, the last of a five-day run of sessions.

Dreamville Festival, which J. Cole launched in 2019, was held in which North Carolina city?

Raleigh's Dorothea Dix Park hosted it, though only after Hurricane Florence forced the first edition back from September 2018 to April 2019.

Dreamville's invitation-only compilation sessions of January 2019 took place at Tree Sound Studios in which city?

Atlanta's Tree Sound Studios stayed busy for ten days as upwards of 100 outside artists and producers dropped in, each summoned by a poster-style invitation.

Which Dreamville compilation, recorded in ten days, debuted at number one?

Revenge of the Dreamers III began with a poster-style invitation that Cole posted online; the sessions left more than 100 songs and ideas to cut down to 18 tracks.

J. Cole made his 2021 pro basketball debut with the Patriots Basketball Club, based in which country?

Rwanda's Patriots signed him for the Basketball Africa League the same week The Off-Season came out; he played three games, then left once his contract was fulfilled.

J. Cole's second pro basketball stint, in 2022, was with the Scarborough Shooting Stars of which country?

Canada's Scarborough Shooting Stars, a Toronto side in the Canadian Elite Basketball League, had him for four games before he left to go on tour.

Which longtime manager of J. Cole co-founded Dreamville Records with him in 2007?

Ibrahim Hamad, known as Ib, befriended Cole at college, started Dreamville with him and went on to run it as president while managing Cole's career.

Which Paris-born, Queens-raised rapper is the younger brother of J. Cole's manager and label partner?

Bas only began rapping in his twenties, took it to his older brother for support, and was announced as a Dreamville signing in January 2014.

J. Cole's first Hot 100 number one, First Person Shooter (2023), is from which Drake album?

For All the Dogs gave Cole his first chart-topper; his verse naming himself, Drake and Kendrick Lamar as rap's big three drew Lamar's rebuttal on Like That in 2024.

Which Might Delete Later track aimed at Kendrick Lamar did J. Cole apologize for and pull?

7 Minute Drill took its name from Cole's timed songwriting exercises; two days after releasing it he apologised on stage at his own festival, then pulled it from streaming.

Which UK rapper features on H.Y.B., from J. Cole's 2024 mixtape Might Delete Later?

Central Cee appears alongside Cole and a Dreamville labelmate on H.Y.B.; Cole had teased the mixtape for weeks in a series of vlogs that shared its name.

Which song from The Off-Season, featuring Morray, peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100?

My Life gives its hook to Morray; months earlier Cole had gone into the comments on the newcomer's breakout single to praise it.

J. Cole's 2020 Snow on tha Bluff was seen as addressing which rapper, who answered with Song 33?

Noname answered two days later with Song 33; before it arrived, Cole had told his own followers to follow her, calling her a leader for these times.

Which J. Cole double album, marketed as his last, splits into discs named for his ages 29 and 39?

The Fall-Off arrived after almost a decade of build-up: KOD's 2018 closer, 1985, was already subtitled Intro to The Fall Off.

J. Cole became a minority owner of which NBA franchise in 2023?

Charlotte Hornets: Cole and country singer Eric Church were among the investors in the group that bought Michael Jordan's majority stake in the team.

Which 4 Your Eyez Only track entered the Hot 100 at number seven before its single release?

Deja Vu had been recorded for his previous album, before Bryson Tiller's hit Exchange used the same sample; Cole's manager said he released it anyway because it fit the story.

With KOD, J. Cole tied a 54-year-old record of six simultaneous Hot 100 top-20 hits, set by which act?

The Beatles set the mark in April 1964. Cole's share of it lasted exactly one week, until Post Malone landed nine songs in the top 20.

Which track on Kendrick Lamar's Section.80 did J. Cole produce?

HiiiPoWeR was Cole and Lamar's first collaboration; Lamar said that at their first session Cole played him about ten beats and he wanted eleven of them.

What did J. Cole's mother Kay do for a living while raising him in North Carolina?

Postal worker: Kay Cole worked for the Postal Service; she later lost the family's house, and years afterwards her son bought it back.

In January 2015, J. Cole announced plans to let whom live rent-free in his childhood home?

Single mothers and their children would each get two years in the house, he said; his own mother had lost it years earlier, and he bought it back in 2014.

Just before The Off-Season came out, J. Cole appeared on the cover of which sports magazine?

SLAM ran the cover story as he signed to play pro basketball; he told the magazine the album's title stood for practice, training and pushing himself.

What is the name of the audio series J. Cole launched in November 2024 to retrace his career?

Inevitable retraced his career stage by stage, and as its episodes came out his early mixtapes reached streaming services for the first time.