J. Cole siblings: Meet Zach Cole

Rapper and record producer Jermaine Lamarr Cole was born in the United States on January 28, 1985. Cole, who was reared in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and was born on a military base in Germany, first became well-known as a rapper after his debut mixtape, The Come Up, was made available in early 2007.

After deciding to join Jay-Roc Z’s Nation imprint in 2009, he went on to record two more mixtapes, The Warm Up (2009) and Friday Night Lights (2010), all of which received positive reviews.

Cole’s debut studio album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, was released in 2011. It debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 in the United States. Born Sinner (2013), his follow-up album, also topped the Billboard 200. Forest Hills Drive (2014), Cole’s first album with more conscious themes, topped the Billboard 200 and garnered him a Best Rap Album nomination at the 2015 Grammy Awards. 4 Your Eyez Only (2016), his jazz-influenced fourth album, landed at number one on the Billboard 200.

Cole’s fifth album, KOD (2018), became his fifth number-one album on the Billboard 200 and had a then-record six simultaneous top twenty hits on the Billboard Hot 100, tying him with the Beatles. His sixth studio album, The Off-Season, which won him his sixth number-one album, was released on May 14, 2021.