In 2011, J. Cole proved it wasn’t too late for him to drop his debut album and establish himself as a force in the game. It was actually J. Cole who led the mainstream shift back to lyricism in hip hop music. J. Cole also was the artist who showed North Carolina rappers had longevity in the rap game.
J. Cole is known as the first artist to sign to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, a position he still maintains through Columbia Records. Now, J. Cole is also the CEO of his own record label, Dreamville Records, where he is the resident producer. Over the past couple of years, the label ran independently.
Joie Manda recently inked Dreamville Records to a label deal with Interscope Records. J. Cole told Billboard he chose Interscope Records after looking at the success his buddy, Kendrick Lamar, had. Furthermore, Joie Manda was excited and J. Cole explained that Joie Manda wanted to be the Jimmy Iovine to his Dr. Dre.
