J. Cole is arguably one of the best rappers in the game right now. Some would put him in the same category with the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Drake as the kinds of rappers who are defining a generation of hip hop. And yet, Cole doesn’t always get the kind of coverage or attention as the others. We’re here to help change that.
Number Fifteen: He Reps North Carolina But Was Born in Germany. To be fair, his family moved back the United States when he was very young. He was born over there because his father was stationed there when he was in the United States Army.
Number Fourteen: He Lived in a Trailer Park Before Moving to 2014 Forest Hills Drive. The latter address has been made famous by his album with that name, but many might not know that the reason it’s important to him is because he lived there he had lived in a trailer park.
Number Thirteen: Speaking of Terrible Names, J. Cole Has Tried Out a Bunch. Before settling with the moniker we now know him for, he was Blaza and then Therapist. Both much less appealing than the simple, effect title he goes by today.
Number Twelve: His Family Owned Six Pit Bulls at One Point. That’s a lot of dogs for any family, but J. Cole has said that at the time he lived in a neighborhood where there weren’t really any other pit bulls at all.
Number Eleven: He Was At Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. Dave Chappelle’s Block Party is a sort of live hip hop movie, and J. Cole was in the audience for part of it. He watched acts like Dead Prez and Common, and he was close enough to the stage that you can actually see him in the audience.
Number Ten: He Had A Rap Battle in a Denny’s. And if you doubt it, you can watch a clip of he and fellow rapper Wale battling it out there.
Number Nine: He Was Obsessed with Grades at a Young Age. He has admitted that in first grade, he would go up to his teachers day after day to check what his average in the class was. That’s it for part one, check back for part two coming soon.