Videos by According2HipHop
J. Cole recently sat down for an interview with rapper Cam’ron on his Talk With Flee podcast. And one of the topics that he touched on was signing his first record deal.
J. Cole Opens Up About Signing His First Record Deal
In a clip shared by Kurrco/X, Cole starts by talking about how he, Kendrick, and Drake, hip-hop’s self-proclaimed big three, are the last of the Mohicans. From the generation where having a record deal “mattered.”
But he says that things have changed. Because if an artist had the right marketing campaign on his own, he could still blow up. Without the backing of a major record label. Essentially, cutting out the middleman.
Cole went on to talk about how, after seeing how talented artists in his town of Fayetteville didn’t get noticed because of poor marketing, he moved to New York City. It was through the connections that he made in the Big Apple that his music made it to music executive Mark Pitts. Otherwise known as the former manager of the late legend, The Notorious B.I.G.
Cole said that Pitts heard his hit song, Lights Please and “saw the vision.” So he took the record to Jay-Z.
He says that this was just a year after he had waited outside for Jay at the Roc The Mic tour to pass him a mixtape. But at that point, Jay had brushed him off as just another person trying to get signed.
In February 2009, Jay-Z signed J. Cole as the first official artist to Roc Nation. With several other talented artists to follow.
This further justified Cole’s reason for moving to New York City. Because without having that co-sign from a major music executive like Mark Pitt, Cole could have ended up as just another talented artist who never got discovered.
Check out the full clip below:
J. Cole breaks down how he got to sign his first deal and suggests artists don't need label deals anymore to succeed ✍️
— Kurrco (@Kurrco) March 25, 2026
"This was the days when having a deal mattered… Nowadays, if you just do the right online campaign, you can blow without the labels."
(via Talk With Flee) pic.twitter.com/bsIYCp66vs
