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J. Cole Facts: 15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About The Fayetteville Rapper
Here are 14 things you need to know about J. Cole, including the one about him dressed as a kangaroo.
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1. J. Cole isn't a fan of 'The New Workout Plan', despite sampling it on his song 'Work Out'.
Despite sampling it one of his biggest hits, J. Cole has admitted that he isn’t a fan of the original song by Kanye West. On his latest single ‘False Prophet’, Cole also appears to take shots at Kanye. However the Fayetteville rapper claims that Yeezy’s debut album ‘College Dropout’ is one of his favourites.
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2. What is J. Cole's real name?
His real name is actually Jermaine Lamar Cole. The rapper attempted to keep his rap alias similar to his real name.
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3. J. Cole was actually born in Frankfurt, Germany.
The rapper was born on 28th January, 1985 in Frankfurt Germany, where his dad was based in the US Army. Cole's mother is German. The family relocated to Fayetteville in North California when he was eight months old.
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4. J. Cole originally had the rap names Blaza and Therapist.
When J. Cole met rapper Bomm Sheltuh, he was using the name Blaza and then he switched to Therapist after consulting the dictionary. He switched to the name J. Cole before releasing 'The Come Up'.
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5. J. Cole began producing his own music aged 15 with his mother's help.
Cole began laying his own beats down after his mother spent a whopping $1,300 on an ASR-X, which the aspiring rapper used to put together music in his bedroom.
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6. J. Cole was first-chair violinist in the Terry Sandford Orchestra when he was at school.
In 2009, J. Cole played first-chair violinist in his high school Terry Sandford Orchestra. What's even better is that Cole's orchestra performed the theme songs from Mission Impossible and Batman!
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7. J. Cole was in the front row at Dave Chappelle's movie Block Party.
Directed by Michel Gondry, Dave Chappelle's Block Party took place in Brooklyn with performances from the likes of Kanye and Common - and J. Cole was in the front row! The rapper won tickets to the event and can be seen making a cameo in the accompanying film.
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8. J. Cole is good friends with rapper Wale and they once freestyled together in a fast-food shop.
Head over to YouTube to watch what happened when Wale and J Cole descended on a Denny's fast food joint after one of their shows.
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9. When Cole met Jay Z, his first thought was "Damn, I'm taller than Jay-Z."
Before putting pen to paper on his contract with Roc Nation, J. Cole has revealed that his first thought when he met Jay Z was: "Damn, I'm taller than Jay Z!" Cole is a whole one inch - 6' 3" - taller that Jay.
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10. Jay-Z delayed his album 'Cole World: The Sideline Story' just so he could feature on a single.
It was worth the wait, Jay finally featured on 'Mr Nice Watch'.
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11. What jobs did J. Cole have before rapping?
Before rapping, J. Cole briefly held jobs as an ad salesman at a newspaper and a bill collector - but he has admitted that he struggled with both roles.
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12. He also worked at a skating rink, where he dressed as a kangaroo!
Believe it or not, J. Cole used to work at a skating rink when he was a teenager, which he used to have to dress up as a kangaroo to entertain customers.
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13. J. Cole is planning to release a joint album with Kendrick Lamar.
In an exclusive interview with Capital XTRA two years ago, he said that the pair were planning to hit the studio together.
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14. Cole is planning to speak his mind on his new album '4 Your Eyez Only'.
“You get to this height or this level in your career, in terms of platform, the next one might go down, it could go up,” he said in the album's documentary 'Eyez'. “You’re never guaranteed to be this high again. While I’m here, let me use this opportunity to say the realest sh*t I’ve ever said.”