Jermaine Cole

Jermaine Lamarr Cole born on January 28th 1985 (age 32) is a rapper, musician, singer, and song writer. He is more commonly known as J. Cole. He was recognized in 2007 after he released his debut mixtape the "Come Up". He was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He lived with one parent his mother who was an white German and his Dad who was an African American solider who left him during his youth. When he was asked about ethnicity he replied, "I can identify with white people, because I know my mother, her side of the family, who I love. But at the end of the day, [I've] never felt white. I can identify [with white people] but never have I felt like I'm one of them. I identify more with what I look like, because that's how I got treated [but] not necessarily in a negative way"

He started rapping when he was 12, and saw it as a profession. In 2000 (age 15) he graduated high school with an 4.2 GPA, and went to St. John's University, and he was going to major in computer science, until he saw the lonely life of a computer science professor, and majored in communication and business. He graduated as magna cum laude. He worked many part time jobs in his hometown, selling newspapers, and being a kangaroo mascot at a skating rink. He had a notebook full of song ideas, but all he could work with were samples of songs. His mother later bought him a drum machine, furthering his understanding of music. He later released his first mix tape "The Come Up".

He released his next mix tape "The Warm Up" and that started his break out, he signed with Roc Nation and his career was starting to gain traction. He was featured in some songs and then made the Friday Night Lights mix tape. He gained more publicity, with more haters as well. He released two more albums the next year, "Born Sinner" and "Truly Yours" and he gained massive following. In 2014 he repurchased his old home, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, and released an album with same name, this album went Platinum and what made this special was that he DID NOT feature ANYONE, this was history in the making. He didn't release anything in 2015 and in 2016 he released "4 Your Eyez Only". This was his second album to go platinum with no features. After this album he also told the world that he had a daughter.

J. Cole is an inspiring person, from a time where he almost lived in poverty, to the point where he made it big, and now he is a father and a huge role model for people.