“How They Came Up”, will be a new series of posts here that will focus on the highlights of successful rappers’ careers. I will particularly focus on the portion of their lives before they became widely known. These lists will be put together from research and interviews of the artists. The aim here is to inspire and examine what it took for them to get where they are.
- Started rapping when he was 12.
- At 15 had a hard time finding hip hop beats so he started making them himself
- During high school persistently contacted labels and A&Rs by phone and email
- By age of 17, Cole was posting songs on various internet forums under the name “Therapist”.
- Left North Carolina for New York because he felt he had a better chance there
- Never had a doubt in his mind that he was going to be successful. Kept small jobs to pay the rent while he focused on his craft
- Stalked Jay Z once to hand him a beat CD but politely got dissed. Cole figured out that this wasn’t the way you get connected
- J. Cole continued building his buzz and in 2007, released his debut mixtape called “The Come Up”
- Mark Pitts, who was once Notorious B.I.G.’s manager and instrumental in signing Chris Brown, played Jay Z a song off Cole’s mixtape called “Lights Please”
- Jay Z thought the song was hot, and called Cole the next day
…let me be an inspiration to you…if you believe in yourself that you truly have the talent, you can do it. No matter how broke you are, no matter how bleak the situation might seem. Everything falls into place when you have faith in yourself. – J. Cole
