J. Cole will open State Fair concert series with September show

Hip-hop singer J. Cole will open the 21-night Washington State Fair concert series when he performs Sept. 2. The show is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Born Jermaine Lamarr Cole, he won Album of the Year at the BET Hip Hop Awards and Top Rap Album at the Billboard Music Awards in 2015. He also was nominated for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance at the 58th Grammy Awards that same year.

Cole made his debut with the mixtape “The Come Up” released in 2007. In 2011 he released his first album, “Cole World: The Sideline Story” and then released “Born Sinner” in 2013. After returning to his childhood home in Fayetteville, North Carolina, he released his third album “2014 Forest Hills Drive.”

The artist credits his reflective lyricism to the house where he had his first own bedroom.

“Having my own room allowed me turn into who I am. I enjoy privacy, I enjoy being by myself. That came from having my own room. Having my own room allowed me to shape myself,” Cole said in the news release announcing the concert.

Appearing with Cole will be rapper Abbas Hamad, known as Bas. The youngest of five children of Sudanese parents, Bas was born in Paris and raised in New York. His music is a mixture of New York City rap and Euro soul.

Tickets for the show will be $70, $100 and $115, including fair admission, and will go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. Tickets will be available at thefair.com, by phone at 888-559-3247 7 a.m.-8 p.m. daily, or in person at the Washington State Fair’s Box Office at Ninth Avenue Southwest and Meridian Street 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays.

This story was originally published July 11, 2016 at 10:21 AM with the headline "J. Cole will open State Fair concert series with September show."