J. COLE | Before They Were Famous

J. COLE | Before They Were Famous
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Before Jay Cole stood outside of Jay-Z’s New York City office for days on end in hopes of handing off his demo. Before he would be nominated at every award show including the Grammys, the American Music Awards and the BET Awards where he has taken home two wins. Before he purchased his childhood home and made the title of his album the address of his house.

Be was born in Germany, but him, his brother and mother re located to North Carolina where she re-married another soldier, one who was verbally and physically abusive to the family, they two would later split and his mother went through a rough patch involving an addiction to crack c0caine. They struggled to make ends meat but J. Cole managed to get himself a scholarship and attend St. John’s University in New York - - he graduated but didn’t receive his diploma for many years due to unpaid fees for not returning his books.

Jermaine Lamarr Cole was born on January 28, 1985 in a United States Army Base in Frankfurt West Germany the son of a white German mother and a black American G.I. father. When Cole moved to Ft. Bragg in Fayetteville North Carolina with his mom, his dad didn't follow. At first they were living in a trailer park near an army base with his mom working as a mail carrier.

At school J. Cole was a bit of a keener, recalling as young as 5 and 6 he was obsessed with grades and would bug his teacher for his average.

When J.Cole was 10 or 11 his mother remarried and they moved into a nicer house at 2014 Forest Hills Drive. A nice area lined with trees in picturesque Suburbia.

But all wasn’t perfect inside the home, his new step father would verbally and physically abuse his new family, especially his J. Cole’s older brother Zach.

J. Cole would lock himself away in his room for hours on end listening to music, rap in front of the mirror, write, daydream. At the age of 12 he officially started rapping and was serious about it at 15. He hooked up with a local group called Bomm Sheltuh and at this time reffered to himself as The Therapist.

He attended Terry Sanford High School where he took an interest in studing guitar, over all his grades were high so upon graduation in 2003 he had options with scholarships. He decided to attened a school in New York City concluding that it was his bes bet to land a record deal. he majored in communication and minored in business and took some computer science classes.

Around the same time he was leaving his home, his step father had taken a job in Thailand and decided to stopped contributing to the mortgage. Soon his childhood home was in foreclosure, his mother downsized to apartment and when on a downward spiral with a new a bad influence new boyfriend – you can hear about her addiction to crack in J.Coles track Breakdown.

The pressure was on for J. Cole to make it in music. After numerous days standing outside Jay-Zs office in hopes of giving him a demo, Cole finally ran into his idol, but the reception was well below chilly. He was shocked then when he received a call from the man weeks later, and even more shocked when he got a chance to contribute to Jay-Zs 2009 The Blueprint 3. That same year he released the mixtape The Warm Up.

My name is Michael McCrudden documenting the life of J. Cole prior to fame, here for you on Before They Were Famous.

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