The second studio album by american hip hop recording artist J. Cole. The album was released on June 18, 2013 in the United States under Roc Nation and Columbia Records. It is the follow-up to his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, which was released in 2011. The album features guest appearances from Miguel, Amber Coffman, Kendrick Lamar, TLC, James Fauntleroy, 50 Cent, Bas and Jhené Aiko. The album was also primarily produced by Cole himself, along with others such as Jake One, Syience and Elite. The album was supported by two official singles—"Power Trip" and "Crooked Smile", which peaked at #19 and #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 along with the promotional single "Miss America". Upon its release Born Sinner received generally positive reviews from music critics and sold 297,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The second studio album by american hip hop recording artist J. Cole. The album was released on June 18, 2013 in the United States under Roc Nation and Columbia Records. It is the follow-up to his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, which was released in 2011. The album features guest appearances from Miguel, Amber Coffman, Kendrick Lamar, TLC, James Fauntleroy, 50 Cent, Bas and Jhené Aiko. The album was also primarily produced by Cole himself, along with others such as Jake One, Syience and Elite. The album was supported by two official singles—"Power Trip" and "Crooked Smile", which peaked at #19 and #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 along with the promotional single "Miss America". Upon its release Born Sinner received generally positive reviews from music critics and sold 297,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. false 2025-11-08 07:54:31 2013 2013-06-18 2013-06-18 78 Hip Hop 113703 2174450 577f29e5-d083-4dca-a00a-2ee801c25eda 875203e1-8e58-4b86-8dcb-7190faf411c5 57db9419-f0a0-4060-8003-b7737b9dab4d /media/data/media4/Music/J. Cole/Born Sinner/folder.jpg J. Cole J. Cole feat. 50 Cent & Bas J. Cole feat. Amber Coffman J. Cole feat. James Fauntleroy J. Cole feat. Jhené Aiko J. Cole feat. Kendrick Lamar J. Cole feat. Miguel J. Cole feat. TLC J. Cole 1 1 05:07 1 2 00:46 1 3 04:14 1 4 04:01 1 5 01:17 1 6 04:18 1 7 05:14 1 8 04:56 1 9 04:36 1 10 00:36 1 11 04:28 1 12 04:44 1 13 02:27 1 14 04:38 1 15 04:37 1 16 03:29 2 1 03:45 2 2 04:31 2 3 02:45 2 4 03:37 2 5 04:12 Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained attention as a rapper following the release of his debut mixtape, The Come Up, in early 2007. Intent on further pursuing a musical career, he signed with Jay-Z's Roc Nation in 2009 and released two additional mixtapes: The Warm Up (2009) and Friday Night Lights (2010) to further critical acclaim as he garnered a wider following. Each of Cole's studio albums have debuted atop the US Billboard 200, beginning with his debut Cole World: The Sideline Story (2011) and its follow up, Born Sinner (2013). Both met with critical acclaim, the albums yielded the Billboard Hot 100-top 40 singles "Work Out", "Power Trip" (featuring Miguel), and "Crooked Smile" (featuring TLC). Despite commercial success, Cole departed from the pop-oriented sound of the albums in favor of conscious subject matter for his subsequent projects; themes of nostalgia, racial inequality, and materialism were explored respectively in his following releases: 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014), 4 Your Eyez Only (2016) and KOD (2018). The latter featured a then-record six simultaneous top twenty hits on the Billboard Hot 100, tying Cole's success with that of English rock band the Beatles. His sixth album, The Off-Season (2021) was met with continued success and spawned the single "My Life" (with 21 Savage and Morray), which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Its chart success was matched by his guest appearance on the 2023 single "All My Life" by Lil Durk, and succeeded by his first song to peak the chart, "First Person Shooter" by Drake that same year. The former also won Cole a Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance. Self-taught on piano, Cole also acts as a producer alongside his recording career—having largely handled the production of his own projects—with credits on material for other artists including Kendrick Lamar, Janet Jackson, Young Thug, Wale, and Mac Miller, among others. Cole has been prolific in side ventures including his own record label Dreamville Records, as well as its namesake media company and non-profit. The label, having signed artists including JID, Ari Lennox, and EarthGang, has released four compilation albums; their third project, Revenge of the Dreamers III (2019) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards. In January 2015, Cole began housing single mothers rent-free at his childhood home in Fayetteville. Cole has won two Grammy Awards from seventeen nominations, a Billboard Music Award for Top Rap Album, three Soul Train Music Awards, and eight BET Hip Hop Awards. Each of his albums—including Revenge of the Dreamers III—have received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Roc Nation