J. Cole, The Middle Child
J. Cole is without a doubt one of the greatest rapper of our generation and I really enjoy his music. The first music I hear of his was "Grown Simba" and ever since then I was his biggest fan.
How He Started
Jermaine Lamarr Cole, AKA J. Cole was born in January 28, 1985 on a military base in Germany. His father, a military veteran abandoned him and his older brother Zach which forced his mother, Kay to move back to the United States and raise them in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Cole developed a huge interest in Basketball and Music from a young age and tried to pursue both. He performed well academically which helped him get a scholarship to St. John's University in New York. After finishing his Communication and Business courses, he went back to Fayetteville and worked part-time while working on his music.
In 2007, his finally released his first mix-tape called "The Come Up". It contained songs like "Dollar and a Dream", "Split You Up", "School Daze" and "Lil' Ghetto N***a" which were a great introduction to the music world.
In 2009, he released his second mix-tape named "The Warm Up". This mix-tape was very successful as it contained songs like "Lights Please", "Grown Simba", "Dead Presidents II", "Last Call" and "Royal Flush".
In 2010, he continued to release his third mix-tape, "Friday Night Lights". This was another great mix-tape which helped him gain huge traction in his career. "Enchanted", "Blow Up", "See World", "Higher" and "Best Friend" are some of the best track on the mix-tape.
In 2011, he released his first studio album, "Cole World: The Sideline Stories". It debuted at number 1 on the US Billboard and continued to be more successful. It contained tracks like "Work Out", "Can't Get Enough", "Lost Ones", "Daddy's Little Girl" and "Nobody's Perfect" and it is my favorite album of his.
The album "Born Sinner" came next in 2013 and J. Cole didn't disappoint. The album debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard and went on to be double platinum. The tracks "Power Trip", "She Knows", "Crooked Smile" and "Forbidden Fruit" were among my favorite on the album.
In 2014 came this third album called "2014 Forest Hill Drive". It debuted at number 1 on the US Billboard and went on to be triple platinum. The tracks "G.O.M.D", "No Role Models", "Wet Dreams", "Love Yourz" were my absolute favorite on the album.
"4 Your Eyes Only" came next in 2016. The album was number 1 on the Billboard charts and contained awesome tracks like "Deja Vu", "4 Your Eyes Only" and "Immortal".
He released his fifth album, "KOD" is 2018. It was number 1 on the US Billboard and went on to be platinum. "KOD", "Photograph" and "ATM" were few of the songs that had great reception.
His latest album, "The Off-Season" was released in 2021. It was number 1 on the US Billboard and was nominated for the album of the year at the Grammy Awards. The tracks "Amari", "The Climb Back", "My Life" and "Pride is the Devil" made the album fantastic.
Currently
He is currently working on his seventh album, "The Fall Off" but not much is know about the release date.
J. Cole is one of the greatest rappers, song writer and producer in my opinion and I would love to hear your thoughts on him in the comment section. And I think it is appropriate to close with his "Middle Child" track...
