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A new mural of J. Cole is in the works near Fayetteville State University. The artist responsible said this mural is a part of a bigger project honoring artists across the state.
The artist responsible for spray-painting the new mural of the star, Scott Nurkin, told the Fayetteville Observer that he paints large murals of significant musical artists from North Carolina in their hometowns.
“Back in 2000, I started the idea for this trail, called the North Carolina Musician Murals Trail,” Nurkin told the Fayetteville Observer. “And the idea was, I realized long ago, when I was in college, that we had so many amazing, talented musicians from North Carolina. And I was like, not a lot of people know about this.”
The trail, funded by the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, begins in Chapel Hill on a wall inside Pepper’s Pizza where Nurkin arranged portraits of musicians from around the state, many of whom he idolized. The trail has since grown to sides of buildings across NC, from John Coltrane on the historic Opera House in Hamlet to Thelonious Monk on Main Street in Rocky Mount, and Nina Simone on Lynn Road in Tryon.
The mural is the second to honor the rapper, whose real name is Jermaine Cole, who is known to make trips back to his hometown of Fayetteville NC. In April 2024, artist Andaluz the Artist painted a postcard-style homage to the rapper.
J. Cole is the 27th mural in the NC Mural Trail series, joining a series of legendary NC artists.
Below, we have compiled a list of a few other Black NC musicians a part of the NC Musician Murals Project.