The floodgates will open at Baird Point on Saturday at 5:30 p.m., and students will finally get to see J. Cole, Childish Gambino and French Montana perform at Fall Fest. Many students are excited and many are upset, but some don't even know how to feel about the lineup. Each artist has elements to his persona the average fan might not be aware of, which is why The Spectrum has you covered.
J. Cole
Real Name: Jermaine Lamar Cole
Age: 27
Popular Song: "Can't Get Enough"
No College Dropout: Despite the common rap stereotype, J. Cole graduated magna cum laude from St. John's University. He used his opportunity to attend the Queens, N.Y. school on an academic scholarship to play Division-I basketball and network in the city to launch his music career.
Party Crasher: For J. Cole, having his sights set on a record deal meant exploring every networking option. This includes going uninvited to a party televised on MTV's My Super Sweet 16 for music mogul L.A. Reid's son, Aaron. The rapper showed up with a t-shirt that read "Produce for Jay-Z or Die Trying," looking to network with the music industry elite.
Second generation of the Roc: After Jay-Z departed from Roc-A-Fella records and collaborated with Live Nation to set up his Roc Nation label, it only took a year for him to find his first signee: our headliner, J. Cole. After generating a buzz in the industry, J. Cole now shares his label with artists such as Rita Ora, Jay Electronica, Willow Smith and Bridget Kelly.
Moniker mania: Long before his record deal, the North Carolina native went by a peculiar stage name: The Therapist. As told in countless interviews, J. Cole changed the name after realizing it was too much of an obvious stage name.
"I realized Therapist sounded like a wrestler's name ... like an alias. It didn't feel real," the rapper told MTV.
Nod to the Louis Vuitton Don: Aside from the aforementioned "Can't Get Enough" being one of J. Cole's biggest hits, another radio favorite has been "Work Out," which samples Jay-Z's first prot?(c)g?(c), Kanye West. If you listen closely to the closing of West's "The New Workout Plan" it would perfectly transition into Cole's track.
Childish Gambino
Real Name: Donald Glover
Age: 28
Most Popular Song: "Heartbeat"
There's a reason he looks familiar:Gambino doesn't just have strong raps and appear in the blogs rocking A.P.C. attire. He also currently plays former high school star quarterback Troy Barnes on the NBC show Community.
Asian Persuasion:Based off Eat Your Vegetables and Royalty, Gambino favors Asian women, such as Hot 97 affiliate Miss Info and the female members of Japanese crime syndicate the Yakuza.
"Percocet for my kin folk/my girl look like Miss Info," Gambino raps.
"Groupies looking like the Yakuza in my Jacuzzi," Gambino raps.
"Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin' ta F*** Wit":The name "Childish Gambino" came from a Wu-Tang Clan name generator. If you thought he was part of the Gambino crime family, you were off by a couple of skin tones.
Platinum > Gold:Gambino's latest project, Royalty, went platinum on download/stream mixtape websites. Royalty is his best piece of work yet with impressive witty bars and a passionate delivery.
Nah, that's not my kin:Gambino is NOT related to Lethal Weapon actor Danny Glover. He does not hold a six-shooter and he does not have an insane suicidal Mel Gibson counterpart.
French Montana
Name: Karim Kharbouch
Age:27
Most Popular Song: "Pop That"
Diddy-affiliated, Ross-approved: Montana hasn't even released his debut album yet, but he's still getting co-signs from some of the hottest artists in the game. The star signed a label contract with Diddy's Bad Boy Records and he joined Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group the next year. Montana only benefitted from the affiliations, as evident in the raunchy but necessary "Pop That" featuring Drake, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne.
"Fanute": The MMG affiliate started his verse on January's "Stay Schemin'" with: "From the hooptie to that ghost dog." Montana's slurred manner of rhyming made "From the" sound like "Fanute."
Listeners accepted "Fanute" as an actual term, which may mean to improve or flaunt given the context of the line (French Montana used "Fanute your [female]" as an example). The mondegreen was even popular enough to warrant a New York Times column.
Ten years experience: Montana burst into the mainstream with last year's "Choppa Choppa Down," but the Bronx native has been doing it for years. Since 2002, Kharbouch produced the Cocaine City underground DVD series. The series featured interviews with major and upcoming artists. The last edition came out in 2010.
XXL 2012 Freshmen Class: The fifth annual XXL Freshmen Class received a mixed response from hip-hop fans. What many didn't realize was that one of the members of that class would be rocking clubs the following summer. After signing with heavyweights MMG and Bad Boy Records, French Montana is the most successful artist from that cover.
Shot in the head: Montana actually had a brush with death in 2003-04, according to a 2008 interview. In an alleged set-up, Montana was shot in the back of the head. The gunman was shot and killed right after, prompting a murder charge for Kharbouch. The charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence.
Many believe Kharbouch's garbled and sometimes incoherent way of speaking may be due to the gunshot wound.
Email: arts@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
