Patiently Waiting
M
any have had big city dreams of moving to the Big Apple and becoming a star. But more often than not, chasing a dream in NYC turns into driving taxis for a living. Fortunately for rapper/producer J. Cole, the first artist signed to Jay-Z’s new record label Roc Nation, taxicab confessions won’t be his fate. Born Jermaine Cole and raised by his mother in a single-parent home in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the future MC was introduced to rhyming at the age of 12 by his cousin who was visiting from Louisiana for the summer. “[My cousin] used to freestyle, and I’d try to rap too, like ‘Yo, how you do that?’” he recalls. “When I first started, I was doing No Limit raps. It didn’t take me long after he left to get into other shit. I got real heavy into Canibus, and then Eminem came along. I went from Master P to Eminem. I just kept molding my style based on [the artists] I was into.” He soon convinced his mother to purchase a beat machine, and learned the skill of producing. “I begged my mom to get me a beat machine, and she finally got it for me after months and months of begging,” he says. “That’s how I started out making beats. Since I was 15, I’ve been producing for myself.” After graduating from high school, he accepted a full academic scholarship to St. Johns University, mainly to pursue his rap career within the city that never sleeps. “I went to a school I never visited before,” he says. “I just applied and showed up.” Cole never planned to finish college, believing his musical abilities would lead to a record deal in no time, but the aspiring MC quickly learned that pipe dreams don’t happen overnight. He went on to spend four years at St. Johns, graduating magna cum laude, while continuing to develop his music. Soon after graduation, in 2007, he released his debut mixtape The Come Up with DJ On Point. Although it didn’t set the streets ablaze, he received positive feedback from many listeners. While in the process of completing his follow-up mixtape The Warm Up, J. Cole’s music wound up in the hands of Jay-Z, who heard the song “Lights Please” and signed Cole to Roc Nation in 2008. Cole’s signing with a rap legend, rave reviews that followed the release of The Warm Up (which was released online on June 14th, 2009), and a vital internet presence has many anticipating the release of J. Cole’s yet-to-be-titled debut album and mentioning his name amongst the game’s hottest newcomers. “My goal is to put out a classic album on the level with some of the greatest first albums that ever came [out],” he says. “Having a very long career of quality albums and consistent hits; those are my goals.” Words by Randy Roper Photo by Rahan Cotterel
36 // OZONE MAG