BTS's J-Hope Shares How J. Cole Changed His Mindset About Their Language Barrier

On March 3, BTS‘s J-Hope released a landmark song of his career, “On The Street,” in collaboration with his long-time idol and legendary artist J. Cole. To celebrate the song’s release, J-Hope did a livestream on Weverse and shared some stories about the track while he was literally on the street!

A behind-the-scenes story that he shared on the live has especially touched the hearts of fans. J-Hope said that after shooting for the music video together, he exchanged contacts with J. Cole, and they still keep in touch. After returning to Korea, he texted J. Cole, saying how honored he was to work with him. In return, J. Cole sent him a paragraph-long reply!

🐿after the mv, we exchanged numbers too so we've been contacting each other too! i'm using all the english i know to talk to him. and after coming back to korea, i was telling him how it's an honor doing this with him and he sent me a whole paragraph text. i was so touched

— haruharu💜 (slow) (@haruharu_w_bts) March 3, 2023

J-Hope was also apologetic about his limited English, which restricted their communication. But J. Cole reassured him by saying that compared to his own Korean skills, J-Hope’s English is much better. The BTS member said he had never thought about it from this point of view and was very touched by the response.

hobi said he didnt think about it like that, and when he heard jcole say that, he felt really touched

— 미니융 🧸 (@miiniyoongs) March 3, 2023

Fans are equally touched by J. Cole’s response and appreciative of how sensible and kind he is to J-Hope.

it warms my heart every time knowing that bangtan are individually connecting with their heroes and seniors because there's a type of reassurance only They can give our boys, about evolving with your craft & assuaging your doubts & fears about your future as artists https://t.co/POeOqYYjYN

— town person b⁷ (+ᆺ-)⚔ | 🛣️🪞 (@anotherunperson) March 3, 2023

I love jcole man. Such an amazing sentiment. Rather than just expecting hobi to be able to speak English he recognises that he doesn’t speak Korean either so it’s both ways

— ⁷🪞face ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵗʳᵉᵉᵗ 🛣️ (@latatatataa) March 3, 2023

Given that despite being one of the biggest acts in the world currently, BTS members often have to face discriminatory behaviors from foreign industry professionals, J. Cole’s comment put into perspective how mutual respect between two genuine artists can be so simple yet beautiful.