Track Review: j-hope & J. Cole, ‘On the Street’

In what is arguably the biggest K-Pop x American rap crossover since BTS’s “Butter” remix with Megan Thee Stallon, Grammy-winning rapper J. Cole has joined forces with j-hope of BTS for a standalone single titled “On the Street.”

Introduced by a dry acoustic guitar accented with whistles and a boom-bap aesthetic, “On the Street” feels sonically congruent with Jack in the Box, j-hope’s debut studio album, and indicative of the reflective, if not nostalgic, glow of the song’s lyrics. With j-hope set to begin his mandatory military service in South Korea, “On the Street” serves as more than just a general thank you to his fans — it’s a heartfelt reflection on how far his fan’s love has carried him. “가는 길이 희망이 되고자 하여, 나 구태여 (For the path I'm on to become one of hope, I give it my all) / Even my walk was made of /Your love and your faith,” he raps.

“On the Street” feels like manufactured nostalgia in the best way possible; the production treads the line between lo-fi and a pastiche of sonic signifiers of golden age hip-hop which makes the song feel somber yet serene. J. Cole, who has proven himself to be one of his generation’s best talents at crafting introspective rhymes, makes for an excellent collaborator. From riffing on Cole’s “Born Sinner” on 2013’s “Born Singer” to references to Cole and his “Cole World” mantra throughout his career, j-hope has long been an admirer of the “Middle Child” rapper. Just as j-hope is readying himself for a new era of his career, J. Cole has been wrestling with the allure of retirement and his natural competitiveness for some years now. “I contemplate if I should wait to hand over the crown / And stick around for a bit longer, I got a strange type of hunger,” he spits. With the Creed III soundtrack doing its thing and the 2023 iteration of Dreamville Fest pulling strong numbers, Cole will likely stick around for longer than The Off-Season may have hinted at.

The pair’s kindred spirits make for an unlikely, but ultimately rewarding, collaboration that plays to their strengths as rappers and producers. J-hope’s hypnotic whistle melody is ridiculously catchy, and Cole’s call-and-response additions to the final chorus highlight how good he is at finding interesting melodic pockets. After a strong solo showing with Jack in the Box, “On the Street” continues j-hope’s penchant for threading his decade-long career with calculated points of sonic and thematic consistency.

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Score: 74