J. Cole

Also known as Jermaine Lamarr Cole, Therapist, Hollywood Cole, Kill Edward

Jermaine Lamarr Cole is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained attention as a rapper following the release of his debut mixtape, The Come Up, in early 2007. Intent on further pursuing a musical career, he signed with Jay-Z's Roc Nation in 2009 and released two additional mixtapes: The Warm Up (2009) and Friday Night Lights (2010) to further critical acclaim as he garnered a wider following.

Person · Open Library

Born: 1859
Died: 1924
Works: 36

Top works

The geology of Killarney & Kenmare
Handbook to the City of Dublin and the surrounding district
On rock specimens dredged from the floor of the Atlantic off the coast of Ireland
The geology of Clare Island, County Mayo
The geological growth of Europe

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Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Male
Country: United States
Active from: 1985

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Article

Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained attention as a rapper following the release of his debut mixtape, The Come Up, in early 2007. Intent on further pursuing a musical career, he signed with Jay-Z's Roc Nation in 2009 and released two additional mixtapes: The Warm Up (2009) and Friday Night Lights (2010) to further critical acclaim as he garnered a wider following.

Each of Cole's studio albums have peaked atop the US Billboard 200, beginning with his debut, Cole World: The Sideline Story (2011), and its follow-up, Born Sinner (2013). Both met with critical acclaim, the albums spawned the Billboard Hot 100-top 40 singles "Work Out", "Power Trip" (featuring Miguel), and "Crooked Smile" (featuring TLC). Despite commercial success, Cole departed from the pop-oriented sound of the albums in favor of conscious subject matter for his subsequent projects; themes of nostalgia, racial inequality, and materialism were explored respectively in his following releases: 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014), 4 Your Eyez Only (2016) and KOD (2018). 4 Your Eyez Only yielded his furthest commercial success—selling an estimated 500,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, while the latter featured a then-record six simultaneous top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100—the first time a musical act achieved this feat since English rock band the Beatles in 1964. His sixth album, The Off-Season (2021), was met with continued success and spawned the single "My Life" (with 21 Savage and Morray), which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Its chart success was matched by his guest appearance on the 2023 single "All My Life" by Lil Durk, and succeeded by his first song to top the chart, "First Person Shooter" by Drake that same year. His seventh album, marketed as his final album, The Fall-Off was released in 2026, and had several top-40 songs upon its debut, with "Two Six" peaking at 16th on the Billboard Hot 100.