BTS member J-Hope declared J. Cole as the “GOAT” while shouting out The Fall-Off rapper.
Two weeks after the two-time Grammy winner released his seventh and presumably final LP, his “On the Street” collaborator shouted him out during his birthday livestream on Wednesday (February 18).
“Congrats on the album, Cole hyung. Album went crazy for real! You will always be my GOAT,” the K-pop artist said around the 21:00 mark of the recap below. “Thank-you, brother. much love to you.”
J-Hope and Cole linked on 2023 track “On the Street,” nearly ten years after the BTS member referenced the Dreamville Records founder on his group’s 2014 song “Hip Hop Lover.”
“Hope hope world/Before I made my own world, Cole world/Ever since he shone on Friday nights,” Hope rapped, nodding to two early Cole projects, Cole World: The Sideline Story album and his 2010 mixtape Friday Night Lights.
During the filming of the “On the Street” music video in New York City, Cole called the collaboration “a blessing,” while Hope gushed about working with the North Carolina native. The artists had initially met at the 2022 installment of Lollapalooza.
“When I started listening to music, the first artist I listened to was J. Cole,” Hope said in the video below. “Being able to work with J. Cole after 10 years as a fan, I’m so happy. It’s just all new and I still can’t believe it.”
