How Did J. Cole Get Famous? 10 Essential Facts To Know About The GRAMMY-Winning Rapper

J. Cole is as adept with braggodicious bars as any heavyweight MC out there. Still, he's also the one possibly most ambivalent about fame — and self-aware about the destructive power of putting people down in hip-hop.

"For so long my mind state was, I have to show how much better than the next man I am through these bars. Who's the best? Let me prove it," the North Carolina-raised rapper told the New York Times in 2017. "And it's just like, damn, I'm really feeding into a cycle of keeping Black people down, I'm really feeding into that."

The prodigious artist born Jermaine Lamarr Cole expanded on his life's calling to Billboard the following year. "I consider love [to be] respect, acknowledgement of skill and talent. That was always the rush I got from rapping," he said. "There was a money aspect to it. I want to take care of my mom and my family. The part that I never considered was being famous."

So how did J. Cole get so famous and become so influential?

Granted, there are very good reasons J. Cole is a globally recognized figure. Since his debut mixtape, 2007's The Come Up, he's released albums like 2013's Born Sinner, 2014's 2014 Forest Hills Drive, and 2016's 4 Your Eyez Only, to commercial and critical hosannas.

His latest, 2021's The Off-Season, was no different, garnering four nominations at the 2022 GRAMMYs — for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song ("M Y . L I F E"), and Best Melodic Rap Performance "P R I D E . I S . T H E . D E V I L." All in all, J. Cole has won one GRAMMY (Best Rap Song for "A Lot," a collaboration with 21 Savage, at the 2020 GRAMMY Awards) and has been nominated for 16.

And whatever form his next release takes, J. Cole is set to lead the vanguard of hip-hop in the young decade — despite, or partly because of, his propensity to kick down the fourth wall and look inward. Here are 10 facts all music fans should know about J. Cole.

He Was Born In Germany And Raised In North Carolina

Jermaine Lamarr Cole was born on a military base in Frankfurt, West Germany, to a veteran father and postal-worker mother.

When he was a baby, the family relocated to Fayetteville, North Carolina, eventually landing at 2014 Forest Hills Drive — an address that would inspire the title of his 2014 album.

That's also the location where he wrote some of his earliest raps and where he decided to pursue music as a career.

He Was Inspired Early On By Classic Rappers

J. Cole's formative influences included Eminem, Nas, Canibus and others. And as he explained in 2014, his earliest material sounded like the former two artists in a blender.

"If you go listen you will hear both influences, and I feel like when you start rapping at the beginning, you really just take all your influences and you just rap like them," he said. "Eventually, you become who you are from others' influences, and Eminem was a main ingredient."

Jay-Z Initially Dismissed Him…

Early on, J. Cole waited for three hours — part of that time in the rain — waiting for Jay-Z to pull up to his studio so he could give him his CD. Jay-Z turned it down for his label Roc Nation, but J. Cole was undeterred.

…But He Then Became Roc Nation's First Signing

Part of Jay-Z's dismissal was based on the fact that Roc Nation wasn't initially a hip-hop label, but a pop label. That all changed when Hova heard "Lights Please" via record executive and manager Mark Pitts — and arranged to meet with J. Cole once more.

"Jay-Z's reactions are incredible when he's feeling some shit," J. Cole said in a 2009 Complex profile. "When he's feeling something, when there's a line that he likes, he gives you that, 'Wooooooo!' and he'll let you know that he's feeling it."

The signing was fortuitous for both sides. "[Jay] never compromised or interfered with my creative process," J. Cole told the Associated Press in 2012. "There was a never a point when he was like, 'I need to come in and play big brother and show you how to do this.'"

He's Collaborated With Kendrick Lamar

J. Cole's first collaboration with K-Dot was "HiiiPoWeR," which he produced for the latter artist's Section.80 album. And Born Sinner contains a track called "Forbidden Fruit," featuring Lamar. And on Black Friday 2015, both MCs released songs called, naturally, "Black Friday."

He's Deeply Attuned To Social Justice

In 2014, J. Cole released "Be Free," a musical reaction to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mississippi. Three days later, he traveled to the city to converse with protesters and activists on the ground.

He's Been The Subject Of Documentaries

The following year, J. Cole released a documentary series called J. Cole: Road to Homecoming ahead of his HBO special, Forest Hills Drive: Homecoming.

The latter covered his concert that year in Fayetteville; the former featured appearances from Lamar, Rihanna, Pusha T and more. And in 2016, he released a 40-minute Tidal documentary to accompany his 4 Your Eyez Only album, simply titled Eyez.

He's A Label Owner, Too

Since 2007, J. Cole has owned Dreamville Records alongside his manager, Ibrahim Hamad. Together, they've released music by artists like EARTHGANG, Lute and Ari Lennox through their distributor, Interscope Records.

But that's not the only sector of his life called "Dreamville": his charitable nonprofit, the Dreamville Foundation, aims to "'bridge the gap" between the worlds of opportunity and the urban youth."

In 2014, he purchased his childhood home in Fayetteville so single mothers and their children can live there cost-free.

He's Just As Serious About Basketball As Music

In 2012, J. Cole participated in the NBA All-Star Weekend Celebrity Game, playing in the Eastern Team. "Sports is where it started for me," he told Sports Illustrated in 2013, comparing it to the hyper-competitive field of hip-hop. "It parallels my life."

"No Role Modelz" Is J. Cole's Biggest Hit

On Spotify, J. Cole's most-played song by far is "No Role Modelz" from 2014 Forest Hills Drive, topping out at 1.2 billion streams.

With numbers like that, lines like "I punch the time sheet, not no more / And my assigned seat is the throne" — from "a m a r i" — don't feel arrogant, but prescient.

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