Higher Education! 8 Smart Rappers Who Went To College

The North Carolina native’s ability to translate his work into gold stems from his days as an undergrad on academic scholarship at St. John’s University in Jamaica, Queens. The 2007 graduate got his degree in business, sacrificing the 9-to-5 for studio time whenever he wasn’t hitting the books. Choosing the city streets of New York over the his hometown Fayetteville, North Carolina, for the music scene, Cole always knew he would make it big in rap even in the classroom. He eventually headlined the University’s spring concert just four years after graduating his alma mater.