J. Cole

J. Cole started rapping at age 13, and started making beats at the age of 15. He first appeared on the scene in 2007 with a mixtape called The Come Up. It included 21 tracks and one feature by an unknown artist. Cole produced 14 of the 21 tracks. He was also signed in 2007 to Jay-Z’s label Roc Nation. In 2009 J. Cole then released his second mixtape, which featured the song that Jay-Z heard before he got signed; Lights Please. Again the mixtape did not have many features, and was mainly produced by the rapper. This same year Cole was featured on a song off of Jay-Z’s album title A star is born, which introduced him to the world. 2010 came and J. Cole released his third mixtape titled; Friday Night Lights, which critics would crown the best mixtape of the year. The mixtape featured the song; In the Morning, which went mainstream and saw a lot of spins on the radio. The song would eventually get a spot on his debut album as well as a viral video shoot in Paris. When I first heard this mixtape I felt it had “album material” on it. Fast forward to 2011, Cole released about 9 tracks via the internet for free leading up to his album release on Sept. 27, 2011. He managed to sell 218,000 copies in the first week of sales, and was the first artist to have their debut album at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. The album is great, easily one of the top ten albums of 2011. I believe J. Cole is one of the top 5 rappers in the game right now, and he has major potential. He reminds me of Nas with his story-telling ability and focus on real life struggles within his music. He’s definitely going to be great one day.