J. Cole confirms he has two sons in new essay

July 21 (UPI) -- J. Cole is a dad of two.

The 35-year-old rapper confirmed in an essay for The Players' Tribune published Monday that he is a father of two sons.

In the essay, Cole discusses his two passions: basketball and rap. He recalled a time in 2016 where he was questioning his desire to rap but ultimately chose to keep pursuing his craft.

"A month later, I packed my bags and hopped on a plane to Laguardia Airport. A couple weeks prior I learned that I would become a father. It wasn't a surprise. I had been taking steps to change my life for the past couple years, and I felt ready," Cole said.

Cole said "four years have passed" since he rededicated himself to rap.

"In that time I've been blessed with two sons, learned the delicate balance between parenthood and career, had the pleasure of working with a ton of talented artists as a featured rapper, spent 10 magical days recording a Dreamville album in Atlanta, and put a lot of time and energy into sharpening my sword and growing as an artist," he said.

Cole married his college sweetheart, Melissa Heholt, in 2015. He confirmed he had a toddler son in an interview with GQ in 2019.

"For a while, I felt a little weird about it," the star said of fatherhood. "Like, nah. I felt, 'Did I miss something?' 'Cause I didn't feel the change that people talk about. And then I figured out what it was."

"I changed my life in order to get ready to have a family and to have a son," he said. "I literally changed my life, where I was living, the things that I was doing. I changed. So because of that, when my son came, I was ready. I already made room."

Cole released his fifth studio album, KOD, in 2018. He released "Snow on tha Bluff," his first song of 2020, in June.