J. Cole

For rapper Jermaine Cole, better known by his stage name J. Cole, success did not come easy. After spending hours on end in his room, crafting lyrics and putting them to homemade beats, Cole's primary audience was the few people that just happened to stumble upon his music on social networking sites like Myspace. Determined to expand his audience, Cole made a mixtape in 2007 called The Come Up, which he tried to hand over to his future mentor and longtime idol, Jay Z, in person. However, it would be another two years of hard work and sacrifice before one of Cole's songs, "Lights Please," made its way into the hands of the hip-hop icon. Jay Z liked what he heard and signed Cole as the first artist on his newly formed Roc Nation records label. For J. Cole, it was the start of a promising career as one of the hip-hop world's most interesting young talents.