Rappers
J Cole Net Worth: How Rich is the Rapper in 2022?
J Cole is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter who is best known for being one of the most highly-touted rhymers in the game presently. He’s won several awards for his efforts and even founded his own record label.
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J. Cole Net Worth
It’s no secret that Cole has sold a lot of records throughout his career. In fact, five of his six albums have reached certified platinum status and his most recent project is approaching that notion as well. It’s also no secret that that’s how he’s made the bulk of his money.
Currently, the artist receives 26.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Moreover, Cole possesses over six million subscribers on his YouTube channel. Since 2011, he’s headlined eight different tours while co-headlining three others. Touring is a massive earning outlet for musical acts.
Over his career, Cole has moved well over six million units of his work. Additionally, he founded his own record label in 2007 named Dreamville Records, which is distributed by Interscope.
Cole holds several endorsement deals, most notably with Puma, who inked him to a multi-year partnership deal. In 2020, they dropped their collab shoe called The Puma Sky Dreamer for $130.
Full Name | Jermaine Lamarr Cole |
Birth Date | January 28, 1985 |
Birth Place | Frankfurt, Hesse, West Germany |
Profession | Rapper / Singer / Songwriter |
Marital Status | Melissa Heholt |
Net Worth | $60 Million |
Early Life
J. Cole was born on January 28, 1985, in Frankfurt, Hesse, West Germany. His father is an African-American veteran serving in the U.S. Army and his mother, Kay is a European American who works for the United States Postal Service. Cole has an older brother named Zach.
When Cole was eight months old, his mother moved the family to the United States. He’d grow up in Fayetteville, North Carolina in a multi-ethnic neighborhood.
He worked many different jobs in his hometown growing up, including a working ad salesman for a newspaper, a bill collector, a file clerk, and a kangaroo mascot at a skating rink.
Cole has always had a love for music and basketball. He even served as a violinist for the Terry Sanford Orchestra until 2003. J Cole attended Tery Sanford High School and left for New York City to further pursue his music interests. There, he accepted a scholarship to St. John’s University. He graduated in 2007 with a 3.8 GPA.
Music Career
Cole dropped his debut mixtape in 2007 named The Come Up and it’s been downloaded over a half a million times since its release. Two years later, the rapper dropped his, The Warm Up tape which would go on to be a cult classic of sorts within the hip hop community.
Later that year, he’d appear on tracks with emcees like Jay-Z, Wale, Talib Kweli, amongst others. Gaining recognition rapidly, Cole rode the wave by releasing his third mixtape entitled Friday Night Lights. In actuality, Cole produced the majority of the project.
As the first signee to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label, Cole’s debut album rollout was extensive. In 2011, Cole World: The Sideline Story hit the shelves, moving 218,000 units in its first week. A little over a year later, he dropped his second album title Born Sinner, which sold 297,000 its opening week.
J Cole 2014 Forest Hills Drive
2014 Forest Hills Drive came out in, you guessed it, 2014, selling an impressive 353,000 copies in its first week. It’s widely regarded as Cole’s best body of work, containing tracks like No Role Modelz, Fire Squad, A Tale of 2 Citiez, Love Yourz, and others. The album didn’t have many low points, if at all.
The most remarkable aspect of the album was the fact it had zero features. All 13 tracks were entirely done by J Cole himself.
Cole’s next two albums, 4 Your Eyez Only and KOD followed in their predecessor’s shoes, being very successful. Notably, KOD broke Drake’s record for the most Apple Music opening day streams with 64.5 million streams.
J Cole The Off-Season
The Off-Season dropped in May of 2021, topping the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. The project included features from Lil Baby, 21 Savage, 6LACK, Morray, and Bas. Moreover, it was packed with five top 10 singles such as My Life, Amari, and Pride is the Devil.
Despite his immense mainstream success, Cole has actually won just a single Grammy Award. It came in 2020 for Best Rap Song, which was A Lot featuring 21 Savage off of his KOD album.
Personal Life
J Cole married Mellisa Heholt in 2015 and the couple has two children together. They actually met while Cole was at St. John’s and Heholt currently serves as the Executive Director of the Dreamville Foundation.
As previously mentioned, Cole has always had an affinity for hooping. From playing in the NBA Celebrity All-Star game to signing a contract with Rwanda-based Patriots Basketball Club in the Basketball Africa League. He played three games with the squad.
The rapper has Tupac, Biggie, Nas, and Jay-Z locked in his top five with the fifth spot being a toss-up between Andre 3000 and Eminem.
J. Cole News
- J Cole Reveals Plans For Scrapped EP With Meek Mill And Big Sean HotNewHipHop
- J. Cole Proves His Legendary Status As He Reaches A Historic Milestone ForbesAfter A Rocky Year, J. Cole Leans Into Nostalgia Yahoo EntertainmentJ. Cole to Mark 10th Anniversary of ‘2014 Forest Hills […]
- J. Cole Says Jay-Z Asked Drake to Give Him a Hit Record Yahoo Entertainment