Dale Jr. and J. Cole Cover 'ESPN The Magazine's' Music Issue, Represent N.C.

Two of North Carolina's brightest stars and proudest natives have united -- and met for the first time -- for the new issue of ESPN The Magazine. In the sports mag's Music Issue (dated February 2, but hitting newsstands today), you'll find NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr., who reps Mooresville, and hip-hop star J. Cole, who's always shouting out his hometown of Fayetteville.

Junior and Cole are featured on one of two covers of ESPN The Magazine's Music Issue (the other features music star Katy Perry and NFL star J.J. Watt). Credit: ESPN

Says Junior on meeting Cole, which all started from a shoutout the rapper gave the racer in a song:

"You pull for a guy because of the local connection. Normally, on the rare chance that a celebrity comes to my property, I get real nervous. But I wasn't nervous with him, because I knew this looks just like his backyard. It's a connection, a North Carolina connection, and he reps North Carolina in his music, and he's proud of where he's from and bringing recognition to Fayetteville. I'm proud of North Carolina too."

It's a great interview with the N.C. duo, "Dale Earnhardt Jr. and J. Cole: The Perfect Strangers."

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You Should Know: All We Want Is LOVE

A few weeks ago, I received an email with details on an upcoming event that sounded like it would be a good fit to include on my Dusk Till Dawn blog's list of weekend events, so I did (it took place last Friday). The event, held at Bubble, was a fundraiser, and I especially like to help spread the word on events that support good causes. I'd never heard of the organization the event was supporting, called All We Want Is LOVE, but the brief details I read about it showed it to be a noble cause. All We Want Is LOVE (Liberation Of Victims Everywhere) is a nonprofit organization, based in Charlotte, that works to end human trafficking and sex slavery. Last night, the organization's founder, Jillian Mourning, appeared at the 2013 Do Something! Awards, broadcast live on VH1.

VH1 partnered with DoSomething.org, the country’s largest not-for-profit for young people and social change, to present the awards ceremony. Jillian was one of five finalists up for the Do Something Award Grand Prize, a $100,000 grant for the winner's community project or organization. They are "five 'do-gooders,' 25 and under, who are in the trenches, creating substantial change in our world," the organizers said. The five finalists each represent incredible organizations and important causes: Sasha Fisher (Spark Microgrants), Daniel Maree (Millionhoodies Movement for Justice), Jillian Mourning (All We Want Is LOVE), Lorella Praeli (United We Dream), and Ben Simon (Food Recovery Network).

The two-hour Do Something! Awards show, hosted by Sophia Bush and featuring performances by Sara Bareilles and J. Cole, was attended by numerous celebrities. It also honored stars Patrick Dempsey, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jennifer Hudson, LL Cool J, and Kelly Osbourne for their charitable work. But the show closed out with the presentation of the $100,000 prize winner, with each of the five finalists on stage. After millions of votes by the public, Daniel Maree was announced as the winner for his Millionhoodies Movement. The other four finalists will each receive a grant of $10,000. Watch the video below of the award presentation.

Last night's award show should go a long way to helping these great organizations get the recognition and support they deserve. It's what propelled me to write this blog post, and to hopefully lead more people to support All We Want Is LOVE, in particular.

The organization, according to their website, combats human trafficking in all forms, but their main objective is on sex trafficking, by focusing their efforts on the physical liberation, emotional liberation and rehabilitation, and aiding the victims back into society, as well as increasing global awareness on the issue. They fund established groups with parallel goals in liberating and rescuing victims from modern day slavery. These include groups that are rescuing victims from brothels, offering them shelter and safety, providing them with basic education, and aiding in reintegration into society.

All We Want Is LOVE founder Jillian Mourning. Photos credit: facebook.com/AllWeWantIsLove

Jillian, a Charlotte resident, model, and graduate of UNC Charlotte, has an incredible story of her own. When she was 19, she was raped and became a victim of sex trafficking for six months. Not only is she brave for sharing her story, but she turned tragedy into triumph when she started this organization in July 2012.

A lot of people tend to view human trafficking as something that's only a problem in foreign countries, but it happens more in the U.S. than you might think, particularly the sex trafficking of teenage girls and young women.

Visit All We Want Is LOVE online for more details on this great organization and how you can get involved: www.allwewantislove.org, facebook.com/AllWeWantIsLove, twitter.com/WeWantL_O_V_E.

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J. Cole Describes How Different Cities in N.C. Embrace Him and Our Preferences in Hip-Hop

This is an important week for J. Cole. The Fayetteville native released his sophomore album, Born Sinner, yesterday and, because there's a lot of hype surrounding it, he's making several public and media appearances in support of it (he was on BET's 106 & Park yesterday). One of his stops included an interview this morning on The Breakfast Club on New York City's Power 105.1 FM.

Because I'm a fan of J. Cole, I've watched most of the interviews he's done recently. And since, interviewers tend to ask many of the same questions, a lot of the content of his interviews aren't new to me. But you can always count on The Breakfast Club to think outside of the box. It was funny (literally) how the show's personalities--Charlamagne Tha God, Angela Yee, and DJ Envy--began by asking J. Cole about his so-called beef last year with fellow, albeit much younger, rapper Diggy Simmons (Cole took it all in jest). The interview then gets into the typical questions about specific songs on the album, like "Let Nas Down," but also allows Cole to share some anecdotes about his music career and views on hip-hop.

I especially like how (at the 20:14 mark) Charlamagne asks Cole about the reception he gets in the Carolinas, prefacing it with the notion that we aren't really known for creating rap stars. Cole explains that he gets a lot of love in Fayetteville (of course), Greensboro (saying it's one of his strongest markets in the country), Raleigh, and Charlotte. And he says some interesting things about how Charlotte embraces him.

Watch the 27-minute interview below, which concludes with a J. Cole freestyle, proving why he's one of the best lyricists out.

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Kendrick Lamar Brings Out J. Cole During BET Music Matters Tour Stop In Charlotte

What happens when Compton, California and Fayetteville, North Carolina connect over hip hop? See the video below (NSFW: explicit lyrics). Kendrick Lamar brought out J. Cole for a surprised appearance Tuesday night during the BET Music Matters Tour stop at The Fillmore Charlotte. In addition to performing "Nobody's Perfect," my favorite song off of Cole World: The Sideline Story, J. Cole also launched into a freestyle.

Speaking of J. Cole and BET, the Fayetteville native/Roc Nation star has been nominated for six BET Hip Hop Awards: Best Collabo ("Nobody's Perfect" featuring Missy Elliott), Best Live Performer, Lyricist of the Year, Producer of the Year, MVP of the Year, and CD of the Year. The BET Hip Hop Awards show airs Tuesday, October 9 at 8 p.m. on BET.

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Happy Birthday Anthony Hamilton and J. Cole!

Singer Anthony Hamilton and rapper J. Cole have more than just their musical talents and North Carolina roots in common. They also share January 28 as their birthdays. Happy birthday, fellas, and keep repping for N.C.--Charlotte and Fayetteville, respectively!

J. Cole turns 27 today. Another important date on his calendar is February 12 at the Grammy Awards (8 p.m., CBS), where he's nominated for Best New Artist along with The Band Perry, Bon Iver, Nicki Minaj, and Skrillex. Anthony is 41 today and while he already has a Grammy trophy on his mantle, he's performing this year at the Grammy In The Schools Live! concert February 8 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

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J. Cole Is Having the Best Week Ever

A month after his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, hit stores and eventually went on to reach number one on the Billboard charts in its first week, J. Cole continues to ride high. The rapper from Fayetteville has had many great, well-deserved opportunities come his way recently thanks to his chart-topping success and Roc Nation support. But I'd like to go on the record as saying the reason J. Cole is having the Best Week Ever (remember how VH1 used to do it?) is because on Wednesday, Beyonce the Great debuted her new video for "Party" and J. Cole has a featured verse and appears in the video.

The version of the song in the video is actually a remix of sorts, in that J. Cole has replaced Andre 3000, who appears on the album version. There are all kinds of rumors circulating as to why the reclusive Outkast rapper didn't appear in the video--and his name was a trending topic on Twitter for two days because of it--but his omission has been to J. Cole's advantage. And I don't think it would be a stretch to say that Mr. Cole World benefited from the fact that his label boss Jay-Z is married to Beyonce. Nevertheless, J. Cole shined during his brief verse and appearance in the video.

He even shouts out his home state when he raps: "We out in Abu Dhabi, we like to party. / We don’t cause trouble, we just ride Bugatti. / Bad chick shawty, sorta resemble Sade. / Imported her in from Raleigh, and pulled up into the valet.”

The "Party" video has averaged more than a million views a day since debuting, and I have to say that I'm loving the song and video. It just puts me into a feel-good mood. Even though Beyonce has no reason to go to a trailer park other than to shoot this video, she captures the spirit that people can have a good time and enjoy life even if they don't have a lot by society's standards.

Keep up with J. Cole at www.jcolemusic.com.

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J. Cole Drops 'Mr. Nice Watch' with Jay-Z, While Clock Ticks to Release of Debut Album

Fans of J. Cole have been patiently (and in some cases impatiently) waiting for his debut album to be released. The Roc Nation-signed, most anticipated rap artist to ever come out of North Carolina, is now less than two weeks away from his September 27 release of Cole World: The Sideline Story. And over these next couple of weeks, you can expect to see J. Cole everywhere.

This afternoon, he released one of his album's biggest tracks, "Mr. Nice Watch," which features an appearance by his boss Jay-Z. It's got the Internet going nuts (Jay-Z's verse is insane). Listen to it below (clean version).

Dropping "Mr. Nice Watch" today only adds to J. Cole's buzz. Tonight he kicks off MTV2’s "Sucker Free Road To Release," with the worldwide video premiere for his latest single, "Can’t Get Enough," featuring Trey Songz. The video will premiere tonight at 10 p.m. on MTV2, and then across MTV, MTV2, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, mtvU, MTV.com, and MTV2.com beginning tomorrow (September 15).

J. Cole is the first artist to appear on "Sucker Free Road To Release," the network's new multi-platform show that "will feature hip-hop’s biggest and hottest artists with exclusive, personal and intimate content and programming that takes a look into the creative and business aspects of an artist’s album release, from the writing and recording process in the studio to selecting album art and song/album titles as well as doing press, promotion and hitting the road on tour," according to a press release from MTV.

You'll also find the Fayetteville native in the October issue of GQ magazine, which hits newsstands next week.

To keep up with all-things-Cole, visit his official website, www.jcolemusic.com. And follow him on Twitter @JColeNC. It's great to see a talented hip-hop artist from the Carolinas get such well-deserved recognition. You can see him perform in person on October 13 when he brings his tour to The Fillmore Charlotte. Click here for details.

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J. Cole to Appear on MTV's 'RapFix Live' Thursday

J. Cole will be the next hip-hop star to be interviewed on MTV's "RapFix Live", when he sits down with Sway tomorrow (February 3). The interview will stream live at 4 p.m. on RapFix.MTV.com. Fans can submit questions to be answered by J. Cole by tweeting @MTVRapFix with the hashtag #rapfixlive or if they upload videos to Your.MTV.com.

If you don't know who J. Cole is, you probably don't follow hip-hop too closely. But for a refresher: He's a Fayetteville native who took his musical aspirations to New York, where he attended St. John's University (boy's got smarts), dropped a critically acclaimed mixtape, and became the first artist to be signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation label. I've blogged about Cole a few times before.

J. Cole, pictured here at a MAZ Entertainment party in Charlotte last year.

His debut album is one of the most highly anticipated in hip-hop. And the pressure of having "Jay-Z protégé" attached wherever his name is mentioned has to be weighing heavily on him, though it has opened several huge doors for North Carolina's most popular rapper since Petey Pablo.

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J. Cole Drops 'Friday Night Lights' on Friday Night

J. Cole dropped his highly anticipated Friday Night Lights mixtape tonight, and in the words of Paul Wall: he's got the Internet going nuts.

The Fayetteville native has countless fans burning up their bandwith to download his free mixtape. Over the last few days he's been posting songs from Friday Night Lights on his blog, Dream Villain. Weeks ago he stated that the mixtape would be dropping 11/12/10 and so by the middle of this week anticipation was at a fever pitch. His site crashed a couple of times during the last couple of days from the frequent visitors, particularly after yesterday when he posted "In The Morning," his collaboration with Drake.

I downloaded my copy of Friday Night Lights about an hour ago. I'm about to load it onto the iPod and burn it to CD--I'm hitting the city tonight and this is going in the deck. It's Friday Night. I hope it's worth the hype.

Click here to download a free copy of Friday Night Lights from J. Cole's site. And here's a second, direct link he posted via Twitter because the first was getting overwhelmed.

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Rudy Currence On BET's '106 & Park' Tuesday

R&B singer Rudy Currence, a native of Rock Hill who lives in Charlotte, will appear on BET's 106 & Park Tuesday, October 26. He's performing on the live, nationally televised show as part of the BET Music Matters series, which spotlights artists on the come up and those who are bringing a refreshing and much-needed dose of energy and creativity to hip-hop and R&B music. Rudy will be the second Carolinas artist to appear on Music Matters, following Fayetteville native/Roc Nation artist J. Cole. J. Cole is also a part of the first-ever Music Matters Tour, along with K. Michelle and CJ Hilton, which kicks off Wednesday in Norfolk, VA.

Rudy signed to Disturbing Tha Peace Records last year, the label ran by rapper/hip-hop mogul Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, and he's currently working on his major label debut album, Black Keys and Blue Skies. He'll be in Los Angeles this weekend to shoot a video for "Soul Bossa Nostra," the new song from Quincy Jones that features Ludacris, Naturally 7, and Rudy Currence. For more on the artist, visit www.rudycurrenceonline.com or follow him on Twitter @Rudy_Currence.

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Fayetteville Rapper to Perform on Biggest Stage

Fayetteville native and rising hip-hop star J. Cole is getting the opportunity this week most artists only dream about. As the first hip-hop artist signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation last year, J. Cole has been enjoying a rapid rise into the spotlight. In recent weeks he's had his own BET Rising Icons special, took home a coveted MTV2 award, been featured in major publications, and performed at top concerts around the country. But it doesn't get any bigger than these next two nights.

J. Cole will be the opening act for the two-night run of Jay-Z and Eminem's Home and Home tour at the new Yankee Stadium. This sold-out mini-tour first held two shows a week and a half ago at Comerica Park in Eminem's hometown of Detroit. Tonight and tomorrow night, the final two shows are taking place in Jay-Z's hometown and will be the first concerts held at Yankee Stadium since it opened last year.

J. Cole, followed by second opening act B.o.B, will perform in front of tens of thousands of hip-hop's biggest fans, in front of scores of celebrities who will undoubtedly be in VIP, and share a stage with two of the biggest artists in music. Plus, you can expect Jay-Z and Eminem to feature several high-profile guest appearances during their sets, like they did in Detroit, where they brought out Drake, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Young Jeezy and others.

To keep up with the North Carolina native, visit www.jcolemusic.com or follow him on Twitter @JColeNC.

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J. Cole Wins 'Who's Got Next' Award

Fayetteville rapper J. Cole won the "Who's Got Next" award, presented yesterday during the first-ever Sucker Free Summit on MTV2. Cole had also been nominated for the "Hottest Breakthrough MC 2010" award, but that was won by Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa, whose music I haven't really listened to but will definitely be checking out now. I feel that Cole is more deserving of the "Who's Got Next" award than anything else because he's on his way to making a huge impact on the hip-hop scene, especially if he releases his debut album this fall as he's said he hopes to.

Below is a video clip of Cole winning the award.



You can see J. Cole live in Charlotte on Saturday, August 7 at Power 98 Summerfest at Bojangles' Coliseum. Other scheduled performers include Lloyd, Dorrough, Mystikal, Bobby Valentino, K. Michelle, Rocko, G-Unit's Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo, and local rapper Bettie Grind.

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J. Cole's Full Performance from BET's Music Matters

During the BET Awards Sunday night, the network introduced a great new segment called "Music Matters." The purpose is to showcase new artists in what it says could be the next BET Superstar. During the award show, some of these artists got a chance to perform right before commercial break. I thought it was good of BET to give these deserving artists some shine, but then I quickly realized it was wack because they were only given about 30 seconds of camera time before the network cut to commercial. One of those artists who performed/got slighted was Fayetteville rapper J. Cole. And in the video below is what TV audiences missed--J. Cole adding a second verse to his cameo on Jay-Z's "A Star Is Born." And he ripped it!

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J. Cole's 'Who Dat' Video and Some Advice for the Rising Star

I just finished watching J. Cole's new video for "Who Dat," the latest song and possible album-set-up-single from the Roc Nation artist. Cole, a Fayetteville native who reps his city and North Carolina harder than anyone since Petey Pablo, has had a strong and ever-building buzz for a year now since releasing his acclaimed mixtape The Warm Up, which came after he was the first artist Jay-Z signed to the newly minted Roc Nation. And let's not forget that Jay-Z gave Cole a guest spot on "A Star Is Born" on last year's classic, The Blueprint 3.

The video for "Who Dat" is surprisingly good. Surprisingly because the song is what the industry considers a warm-up single or street single, meaning it's something to get current fans excited and potential fans interested, before the "big" single is released. And songs like "Who Dat" usually don't get much of a video budget from the record label, but Cole pulls it off in the clip that's listed as "shot by BBGUN." The setting is a gritty, industrial-looking area in Fayetteville, of course. And throughout, Cole is flanked by an army of people shouting "who dat," which includes cheerleaders and a marching band. Even the small explosions and trails of fire seem to work, when they could easily come across cheesy. Cole is sending the message that he's hot and blazing a trail.

See the video below. Warning: It contains explicit lyrics. If you'd like to see the clean version, click here.



In other news from Cole World, he's currently in contention in MTV's "Hottest Breakthrough MCs of 2010" contest, in which you can vote until July 16. He faces strong competition as one of 20 candidates, which include Nicki Minaj, Big Sean, Jay Electronica, and Donnis. In fact, I expect those four plus Cole to be the top-five vote-getters, which means they would be featured on the "Sucker Free Summit" awards show July 25.

Okay, so now to my criticism of Cole. First off, I'm a fan. I had The Warm Up in rotation for months last year, which is more than I can say for many artists' albums these days (and this, remember, is a mixtape). Cole is a great lyricist who knows how to go beyond punchlines to deliver both thought-provoking songs and catchy hooks. But he curses too damn much! It's not what you would expect from someone with his lyrical ability--leave that to the Southern rappers who don't have your vast vocabulary. Some of his profanity actually distracts from his songs. I would hate to think that he thinks that a foul mouth will give him an edge to separate him from all the Drake comparisons he gets, which he's not too fond of. So J. Cole, do us a favor and clean it up a little. I know this is rap music, the genre that led to the creation of the Parental Advisory label on albums, but don't feel the need to dumb down your talent. You're the same guy who on The Warm Up said: "Tell haters go to rehab. Kick rocks." Genius.

Keep up with the latest on J. Cole by visiting www.jcolemusic.com.

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