Get Familiar: J.Cole

Fayetteville, NC representative Jermaine Cole is the mover. AND the shaker. I actually have met and interacted with J.Cole personally--He is an alum of my beloved (and hated, ha) St. John's University, and was the president of Haraya: The Pan-African Student Coalition (basically our Black Student Union), an organization I was involved with my freshman year. Cole is a extraordinarily down-to-earth and really smart man, and he's talented; he juggled school, and a dozen programs and concerts that Haraya sponsored. He was always encouraging us, especially the freshman, to get involved, to be informed, to be KNOWN, to start our rise--a message that is still consistent even after college . Involved in music for years before he got any real attention, Cole is now the buzz of the internet--and with good reason.

JUMP to find out why!


His debut mixtape, fittingly titled The Come Up (hosted by DJ On Point--Budden's DJ from the Mood Muzik series), dropped last year, and was initially only spread by hand, for $1 each. Later, an online release of the mixtape gained an enormous amount of positive feedback and began building his army of supporters. His southern charm, homemade beats, and passion for the art is all evident in his music, his words, his persona. In an interview with Let's Just Eat Cheese, Cole says: "Sometimes my own beats intimidate me, I sat on it for weeks. I wrote the line “Paint a picture to show the deaf what it’s like to listen. Speak the words tell a blind man what he’s missing.” What if you could really do that? That would be some wild shit. You have to find the perfect picture and words. That shit is amazing. Really, I just wanted to make some uplifting shit. Something with positive messages but still keep it my normal self – struggling between ignorance and enlightenment." (On the track, I Get Up--the horns on this are craaazy, I love it). His mixed race background and upbringing straddle him between "Suburb whites, suburb blacks, poor white and blacks", putting him in the perfect position to appeal to everyone--to tell a story we can all truly relate to. His desire to make it seem almost natural, not forced like so many other 'desperate to get in' rappers. He seems content doing what he does, excelling at it, and waiting for the world to recognize him. Ohai, I also remember him telling me he is a fellow Army brat, holla!

He performed back in '07 (a track called 'School Daze' among other things) at our spring concert (hosted by Haraya, I actually worked this concert), Black Music Festival (which was a benefit concert in support of aid to Darfur) and I remember seeing him get up on stage like--wait, he raps? Wait, he's NICE? He got some attention and a pretty good reaction from the crowd, but to be honest, most forgot about him after he graduated. But he's still here--and rapidly gaining attention. He has a lot of potential, and some really good stuff well worth the listen. Some of my favorites include I Get Up, School Daze, Losing My Balance and Lights Please (video below--this track is great, J. Cole is not a joke!). Check him out on Myspace:

www.myspace.com/therapistmusic

And read the full interview with Let's Just Eat Cheese,
here.

"Lights Please", J. Cole:


More blog coverage on J. Cole:
http://www.dctobc.com/?s=j.+cole
http://www.elitethatsme.com/2008/05/j-cole-come-up-mixtape.html

Download the mixtape here.
And get the track, I Get Up, here.