J. Cole Honored by Best New Artist 2012 Grammy Awards Nom

J. Cole couldn’t be more humble about his Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. The ‘Work Out’ rapper revealed that he demanded his record label Roc Nation to release his gold-selling debut ‘Cole World: The Sideline Story’ in late September before the Grammy deadline so it could be considered for nominations.

“Everybody at the label knew we had to move,” he explains. “It was because I was telling my management and the label I had to beat the Grammy deadline. If you look at the [release] date, my album came out two days before the Grammy deadline. It’s because I knew I had a shot.” Good call, Cole.

However, the North Carolina native has some major competition in the category with Nicki Minaj, Skrillex, Bon Iver and the Band Perry all vying for the coveted award. “It’s a honor to be on the list,” Cole says. “[Nicki] is on that list. To have two hip-hop artists on that list says a lot about hip-hop right now. Even Skrillex, who is a DJ — and even though it’s more of electronic style of music, the art of DJing comes from hip-hop. So that’s crazy to look at the list and see how much hip-hop influences the Best New Artist [category].”

Hollywood Cole is ready to make his presence felt at the 2012 Grammy Awards. He’s also bringing his family along for support. “I got a suit ready to go,” he says. I’m bringing my mom. My mom got a dress, my girl got a dress, my homeboys got their suits. We’re ready, man. We’re trying to take it home.”

Good luck, J. Cole!

The 2012 Grammy Awards will air live on CBS at 8PM ET. Check back on PopCrush for complete coverage of the event including performances by Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown and Lil Wayne, Rihanna and Coldplay and more.

Watch J. Cole Talk about His 2012 Grammy Awards Nominations