Credit: Spotify

As J Cole was rising through the industry, multiple record labels wanted to sign him. But, faced with rejection from 50 Cent, the ‘No Role Modelz’ rapper had his eyes set on one industry giant from the very start. On his way up he was offered deals with the industry giants that signed Biggie Smalls, Eminem, and TLC but was persistent to go after other major labels.

The budding 24-year-old rapper had wanted to sign with Jay-Z’s label, Roc Nation, from the very start due to how well he knew the music business. “I studied people’s movements and the mistakes they made. And he [Jay-Z] just did everything so close to perfect,” Cole told ABC News. “If I wanted to do it like anybody or be better than anybody, it would be with him.”

J Cole planned a meeting with Sha Money XL, the renowned manager of 50 Cent who tried to convince the ‘In Da Club’ rapper of Cole’s talent. “Supposedly, the story is that he played 50 my shit, and 50 wasn’t sure,” Cole recalled the incident.

There are multiple reasons why 50 Cent could have denied the young rapper at the time. J Cole was an incredibly refreshing artist in the contemporary scene, rapping about real problems that affected him and his community in his debut mixtape, The Come Up, rather than flexing the rapper lifestyle like others were doing. In his early days, he was criticised for being a ‘skinny jeans’ rapper, a derogatory term sometimes used for those taking hip-hop less seriously.

However, all this was water under the bridge for J Cole, and he kept moving on to achieve his real dream, which was being signed by Roc Nation.

They say to never meet your heroes, and this unfortunately rang true with the up-and-coming rapper. Cole had it all planned out, he thought he could get his big break by putting his tracks onto a CD and handing it directly to Jay-Z: “Maybe I could just slide him the CD and he’ll go upstairs and listen to it.” Cole remembers thinking. “He’s gonna love it, and he’s gonna send down for me to come upstairs, and he’s probably going to sign me – or whatever was in my head.”

But those pipe dreams were quickly squashed. After J Cole waited for three hours in the rain at Jay-Z’s studio, the ‘Nice Watch’ rapper recalls him saying, “Man, I don’t want that,” in response to the disc. Reportedly, Roc Nation was more of a pop label at the time, rather than a hip-hop label, so J Cole’s music wouldn’t have fit with their style.

J Cole admits that he naturally harboured some resentment towards his idol for dismissing his music outright: “I thought he was evil at that point – cause it caught me off guard, I had such high hopes, that just one little phrase like that from him.”

Cole translated the tough feedback into harder work and, several years later, found himself to be Roc Nation’s first signing under Jay-Z, having a change of heart about the mismatched style. Working with his label to produce his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, J Cole shot into the mainstream, including features from Drake, Missy Elliott, and Jay-Z himself.

So, although 50 Cent passed on signing J Cole at the start of his career, his denial spurred on Cole to fulfil his lifelong dream of being signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2009.