Jermaine Lamarr Cole 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.

The Warm Up is the second official mixtape from Fayetteville, North Carolina rapper J. Cole. It was released on June 15, 2009. J. Cole produced the majority of the mixtape with help from Elite, and Syience. The mixtape has been viewed over 3,100,000 times, streamed over 451,000 times, and downloaded over 700,000 times on DatPiff. The mixtape went Double Platinum on DatPiff.