THE SONG CONVINCED JAY-Z TO CHANGE HIS ORIGINAL PLANS FOR THE LABEL.
J. Cole wasn’t in Jay’s original plans for Roc Nation, so how did Cole become Hova’s biggest success?
15 years ago today, Jay Z signed J. Cole to Roc Nation
J.Cole stands outside Roc-The-Mic studios with a freshly burnt beat CD and a bottle of E&J. He’s waiting, hoping, and praying for JAY Z. The waiting, there’s always more waiting. It’s night, the rain begins to pour. Two hours go by, his stomach is full of cheap liquor and raging butterflies as an expensive car pulls up. Hova has arrived.
For a young man who once made a “Produce for JAY Z or Die Trying” shirt, this was it, the reason he moved to New York, attending college in the City Of Dreams instead of staying in his home state of North Carolina. When the opportunity comes, standing in front of the man who could hand him his ticket off cheap couches and overdue rent, words refuse to form. He stutters and stammers. Jay sees the CD in his hand, a wall goes up in his eyes.
“I don’t want that, give it to one of them,” he says. I would’ve walked away cursing Jay’s name, playing “Ether” all the way home, hoping that while he’s recording American Gangster Beyoncé is in the arms of her true love, Memphis Bleek. Not J. Cole. He took his first encounter with Jay as a lesson learned, that getting on wouldn’t be so easy.
A year later, it was JAY Z asking to meet the same kid he previously dismissed. Veteran A&R Mark Pitts plays one song which leads to a three-hour meeting which leads to multiple meetings (waiting, always more waiting) until eventually, Jermaine Cole was officially the first artist signed to Roc Nation
This is a story well-known by fans, but I don’t know if I truly appreciated how astounding the tale is until recently, especially from Jay’s perspective.
In 2009, J. Cole became the first artist officially signed to JAY Z’s fledgling Roc Nation label just ahead of the release of Cole’s second mixtape, The Warm Up, which dropped 15 years ago today. The North Carolina MC caught Jay’s attention thanks to “Lights Please,” which convinced the Brooklyn mogul to change his original intention for Roc Nation to be a pop label.
“Lights Please” is a song that shows a relationship between a young man full of angst toward the cold world and a young woman whose only passions are loud packs and casual sex. A record with zero crossover possibility; it’s too slow for the clubs, too intellectual for radio, a businessman would’ve dismissed it. Listening to it now I think of “Jesus Walks,” a song that challenges the accustomed and accepted. I imagine Jay listening to the record and thinking it would sink into a world where Soulja Boy’s “Kiss Me Through The Phone” and Jamie Foxx’s “Blame It” are both Billboard hits.
I also imagine he saw the same attributes in Cole that exist in his little brother, Kanye West. J. Cole didn’t have his swagger or the enchanting ego of a mad scientist, but reading over his old interviews from this time frame it’s clear he glowed. The man who stood before Jay was a passionate rapper who cared more about making good music than making good money. A producer who learned to make beats because he was tired of rapping over others’ subpar production. Southern roots with an East Coast style, not from the streets but familiar with hardship.
J. Cole’s story about how he got signed by Jay-Z should be a motivation to all up-and-coming Rappers. U need just one song to get signed.
Big Inspiration
