Jay-Z Protégé Rapper’s Debut Album to Bow at #1 with 225-250k Possible, blink-182, Wilco, Chikenfoot, Switchfoot Next
September 28, 2011
Meet Jermaine Lamarr Cole, hip-hop’s newest superstar.
The German-born rapper J. Cole, who grew up in Fayetteville, NC, then went to school on a scholarship to St. John’s in Queens before getting discovered by Jay-Z, who made him the first signing to his Roc Nation label through Columbia, debuts at #1 with Cole World: The Sideline Story.
The album, which features collaborations with his mentor, as well as Trey Songz, Drake and Missy Elliott, has surpassed even label expectations with prospects of a sales total approaching 225-250k its first week. Cole had steadily built a following with a trio of well-received mixtapes, including last year’s Friday Night Lights.
Cole just finished a stint as the opening act on the just-concluded Rihanna Loud tour, where rumors of a steamy romance and sex tape have filled the Internet blogosphere, though it’s being roundly denied. She appears in the video for the album’s second single, “Can‘t Get Enough,” shot in her native Barbados with Cole and Trey Songz after the tour ended.
I kinda expected this tbh. The fact he has consistently provided his fans with free mixtapes, songs, videos etc for how many years now, and they're paying him back by buying his album 2,3 times per person.