• January 28, 1985
• Jermaine Lamarr Cole was born in Frankfurt, Germany, to an interracial couple serving in the US Army. Cole's black father would later abandon the family, prompting his mother to relocate Jermaine and his brother, Zach, to Fayetteville, North Carolina.
• Cole began rapping at 12, and was encouraged to see it as a future career when his mother purchased an ASR-X musical sampler as a Christmas gift three years later.
• Upon graduating high school Cole decided that his chances of securing a record contract would be heightened in New York City. He moved to the Big Apple, where he attended St. John's University on an academic scholarship. Cole majored in communications and business, later graduating magna cum laude in 2007, with a 3.8 GPA.
• On the first verse of the 2014 Forest Hills Drive track "Apparently," Cole apologizes to his mom for leaving her to deal with foreclosure at his Fayetteville childhood home while he was away chasing girls and partying at St. John's University. In June 2014 Cole purchased the house back and renovated it to look exactly how it did when he lived there.
• After graduating, Cole worked various part-time jobs, including one making $8 an hour selling newspaper ads, while hoping to jump start his rap career. On one occasion, he camped outside of the Roc the Mic studios in Manhattan, where Jay-Z was recording American Gangster. The young would-be rapper tried to hand his idol a demo CD, but Hova refused to accept it. "We were standing in the rain for hours, drinking a bottle of E&J for courage," he recalled to Billboard magazine. "Finally a [Rolls-Royce] Phantom rolled up, and sure enough, Jay got out. But he was real short with me: 'I don't want that.' I was crushed, like, 'Did that really just happen? F--k him.'"
• Things turned around when Cole became the first artist signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation's label in early 2009. It was the North Carolina rapper's The Warm Up mixtape track "Lights Please" that scored him his Roc Nation deal after Jay-Z heard a pre-release version of the song.
• Seconds after Cole heard via text message that he'd been signed to Roc Nation, the ecstatic rapper was bought back to earth when his car was pulled over by a cop and he was arrested for having an expired license. He tells the story on his 2011 track "Interlude."
• Cole made his commercial debut in 2009 with a guest verse on Jay-Z's aptly titled track "A Star is Born."
• Cole first met his wife, an event planner named Melissa Heholt, in the mid-2000s when they were both attending St. John's University. They're a very private couple - when they got married in 2015 they didn't tell the press. The news didn't break until a year later.
• J. Cole made history on the Hot 100 dated May 5, 2018 when he became the first act ever to debut three songs simultaneously in the Top 10 of the tally. "ATM" arrived at #6, "Kevin's Heart" at #8 and "KOD" at #10.
• J. Cole was a standout basketball player at Terry Sanford High School in North Carolina. He tried out for the team at St. John's but didn't make it - this is when he abandoned his hopes of becoming a pro basketball player and turned his focus to music.
• Cole signed a short-term contract with the Rwandan African league team Patriots Basketball Club, and played his first game against Nigeria's Rivers Hoppers on May 16, 2021.
  
  The rapper scored his first basket as a professional player only minutes after checking into the game. Cole continued to hold his own on the court, finishing with three points, three rebounds and two assists in just under 18 minutes of action.
• His third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was the best-selling rap album of 2014.

Comments

More Songfacts:

Live ForeverOasis

The Oasis song "Live Forever" was written in response to "I Hate Myself And I Want To Die" by Nirvana. "Kids don't need to hear that nonsense," said Noel Gallagher.

Lady MarmaladeLabelle

"Lady Marmalade" is the only song to hit #1 twice in both the UK and US.

Let's DanceDavid Bowie

David Bowie's "Let's Dance" is about more than just dancing. It's about dishonesty, particularly when we mask our true feelings.

Do You Believe In Love?Huey Lewis & the News

The first Huey Lewis & the News hit, "Do You Believe In Love?," is a cover of a song Mutt Lange wrote three years earlier called "We Both Believe In Love."

Station to StationDavid Bowie

David Bowie's "Station to Station" is over 10 minutes long. Bowie was doing a lot of drugs at the time and later said, "I have only flashes of making it."

RespectAretha Franklin

Props to Aretha Franklin: her song "Respect" introduced the term "propers" as a sign of proper respect.

Editor's Picks

Gene Simmons of KissSongwriter Interviews

The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

Daniel LanoisSongwriter Interviews

Daniel Lanois on his album Heavy Sun, and the inside stories of songs he produced for U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan.

Spooner OldhamSongwriter Interviews

His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."

Songs Discussed in MoviesSong Writing

Bridesmaids, Reservoir Dogs, Willy Wonka - just a few of the flicks where characters discuss specific songs, sometimes as a prelude to murder.

Max Cavalera of Soulfly (ex-Sepultura)Songwriter Interviews

The Brazilian rocker sees pictures in his riffs. When he came up with one of his gnarliest songs, there was a riot going on.