J. Cole

For rapper Jermaine Cole, better known by his stage name J. Cole, success did not come easy. After spending hours on end in his room, crafting lyrics and putting them to homemade beats, Cole's primary audience was the few people that just happened to stumble upon his music on social networking sites like Myspace. Determined to expand his audience, Cole made a mixtape in 2007 called The Come Up, which he tried to hand over to his future mentor and longtime idol, Jay Z, in person.

However, it would be another two years of hard work and sacrifice before one of Cole's songs, "Lights Please," made its way into the hands of the hip-hop icon. Jay Z liked what he heard and signed Cole as the first artist on his newly formed Roc Nation records label. For J. Cole, it was the start of a promising career as one of the hip-hop world's most interesting young talents.

Born in Frankfurt, West Germany to a white mother and African-American father, Cole settled in Fayetteville, North Carolina after his father abruptly left the family, leaving his mother and aunt to raise him. While growing up in Fayetteville, Cole escaped the realities of his life by dreaming of becoming a rap star. He started penning his own lyrics while still in his early teens with the help of a drum machine given to him by his mother.

Realizing that his chances of landing a record deal in North Carolina were slim, Cole enrolled in St. John's University in New York City, majoring in communications and minoring in business. While attending college, Cole continued making music, posting his work online under the pseudonym Therapist.

After failing to give Jay Z a sample off his debut mixtape, 2007's The Come Up, Cole decided to finish his education, graduating magna cum laude from St. John's. After a brief stint working as a bill collector, Cole worked tirelessly over the next two years on his follow-up mixtape, 2009's The Warm Up. This time Jay Z did manage to give it a listen.

Seeing great potential in the young rapper, Jay Z signed Cole as the very first artist on his newly formed record label, Roc Nation. That same year, Cole also made a guest appearance on Jay Z's multi-platinum selling The Blueprint 3. Before long J. Cole was gaining a reputation as a hit songwriter, helping pen tracks for top artists like Beyoncé Knowles and Kanye West, among others.

In September of 2011 he released his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, which shot up to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in its very first week. After nearly two years touring the world in support of the album, Cole released his follow-up, Born Sinner, to mostly positive reviews in June 2013. The album featured the hit singles "Power Trip," a collaboration with Miguel, and "Forbidden Fruit," featuring a verse from Kendrick Lamar.

J. Cole released his third album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, in November 2014. The album debuted at number one in the Billboard Top 200 album chart and featured the singles "Apparently" and "G.O.M.D."