J Cole reveals some of the craziest jobs he had as a teenager before fame
J Cole has become one of the most beloved contemporary rappers and, alongside Kendrick Lamar, has earned the respect of hip-hop’s golden generation. As an emcee who delivers substance and interesting themes. Furthermore, he has shown musical development and thus adhered to some of the purist tenets of rap music that many new-school musicians have dismissed.
The North Carolina lyricist has released six acclaimed bodies of work and taken home several awards, including a Grammy. However, before he was J Cole of Roc Nation, he was Jermaine in Fayetteville and had to earn a living the normal way—with a 9-to-5 job.
It’s always strange imagining some of our favourite artists as no-name employees, but they often reflect on their lives after success. GloRilla spoke to Shannon Sharpe about her time working at a Checkers drive-thru earlier this year, and Eminem has previously spoken about how he washed dishes for minimum wage at the Michigan restaurant Gilbert’s Lodge.
Still, in various interviews, J Cole has given an insight into a few of his jobs before getting signed to Roc Nation, and they are strange to say the least. While speaking to Power 106’s Big Boy for his radio show Backstage Breakfast, in 2013, Cole told him, “First job I ever had was at the skating rink in Fayetteville!”
He recalled vividly, “I had that job from 14 all the way until I was 19! It was the best job you could have. I’m Roll Bounce, I was the Roll Bounce king. Every Saturday and Sunday, there were parties…kids parties. What’s not dope is that the dudes that work there have to dress up in this kangaroo outfit. I ain’t got no pictures [of me] in it, but I would go do it just to get the picture.”
However, after he turned 19 Cole decided to do what most normal teens do and go to college. In a 2012 interview with GQ shortly before the release of his debut EP, Truly Yours, Cole recalled his time at St. John’s University in Queens, explaining, “I actually started off majoring in computer science, but I knew right away I wasn’t going to stay with it. It was because I had this one professor who was the loneliest, saddest man I’ve ever known. He was a programmer, and I knew that I didn’t want to do whatever he did. So after that, I switched to Communications.”
However, he had a rather mundane job while at college which was far from your cliche drug dealer. Telling GQ about how he made his money while living in New York, Cole detailed, “When I was in college my girl got me a job at the doctor’s office she was working at. I was a file clerk!”
The K.O.D. creator even went as far as to say he doesn’t believe a man is capable of fulfilling the role, adding, “No disrespect, but I don’t think a man can do that job. It takes so much meticulous and precise file-keeping. I had that job a week and a half before I went to the lady and told her some crazy lie about why I was quittin’.”
Luckily for Cole, only two years after graduating in 2007, his mixtape, The Come Up, had drawn the attention of some important figures, and he quickly signed with Roc Nation.