Jermaine Lamarr Cole, stage name J.Cole, is a prolific hip-hop artist in the mainstream music consciousness with a well-received career that has lasted for more than a decade, and after all of this time he has finally gained a song that landed at the top of Billboard’s Hot 100.
“Honestly, I was baffled,” Kevon Manning-Mitchell (12) said. “I was shocked because he is one of the greatest lyricists, greatest rappers of our generation along with Kendrick Lamar and for him to not have a number one in all this time of all this greatness that he’s dropped throughout the years, it really just baffled me. I was taken aback.
Cole finally managed to carve out a place for himself at the top spot by having a high profile feature verse on a song with his frequent collaborator and one of the biggest artists in modern music, Aubrey Graham, stage name Drake.
“I’m biased, so you already know, two of my GOATs were on the same song and they went number one,” Alana Soulinh (10) said.
Their newest song together “First Person Shooter” was an album cut from Drake’s newest album “For All the Dogs” that Drake would even rap about being one number song away from having the same amount as musical icon, Michael Jackson.
“That’s crazy, I’m in disbelief,” Caitlin Hayes (12) said. “I can’t believe just now he just got one.”
After a couple of weeks of “For All the Dogs” being streamed, the number one spot became a contest between the song “First Person Shooter” with the duo of Drake and J. Cole and another song “IDGAF” that Drake shares with new rap sensation Yeat, although “First Person Shooter” would end up winning out.
“He deserves it,” Soulinh said.
Some feel surprised that after all of J. Cole’s time in the industry and all the quality work that he has put out this would be the rapper’s first number one hit.
“I feel cheated out of a good number one because he’s got so many great hits and that one charted,” Hayes said. “’No Role Modelz’ or ‘Love Yourz’. Those are like his number one. Everyone knows those songs.”