Just days after it was announced that BTS member j-hope will soon begin the enlistment process for South Korea’s mandatory military service, the rapper shared a new single, “on the street,” a wistful ode to his artistic roots that features his longtime idol J. Cole. The collaboration has been in the making for almost a year, since the pair were introduced at the 2022 Lollapalooza music festival. “Since then, I couldn’t stop thinking about how great it would be if we could make music together.” j-hope told Variety. “So I reached out to him.”
Produced by Pdogg, “on the street” finds j-hope and J. Cole looking back on the evolution of their careers and thanking those who have made their successes possible. j-hope came up with the concept after dropping his 2022 debut solo album, Jack In The Box. “I kept asking myself, ‘What drove me here? What made me who I am now?’” he explained. “As an artist who expresses himself through music and stage, I realized that it helps me to move forward and learn new things through reflecting on my roots and reminding myself of where I come from.”
On the hook, j-hope thanks fans who have been with him since the beginning. Their love and support is responsible for every step forward that he’s able to take.
Every time I walk
Every time I run
Every time I move
As always, for us
He promises to return that love by putting his all into everything he does on the first verse, the first three lines of which roughly translate to: “My two feet walk willingly, anywhere/ J in the air/ For the path I’m on to become one of hope, I give my all.”
내 두 발은 선뜻 걸어, anywhere
J in the air
가는 길이 희망이 되고자 하여, 나 구태여
Later in the verse, j-hope hopes fans will apply that warm energy to their own journeys—a fitting message as we move into warmer seasons. “I thought ‘on the street’ would be a great song to reveal this time around with the change of season from winter to spring,” he explained. “I wanted to share warmth through the song to serve as ‘shelter’ from the cold wind and support everyone’s new beginning.”
Now, just walk lightly, whenever you want
Go on hopefully, wherever you walk
Cole takes the second verse, where he reflects on his own—sometimes harrowing—road to success. He’s faced off against adversaries and time itself to reach milestones like scoring a seven-figure record deal.
Fought tooth and a nail
Just to prevail amongst the ruthless as I move through the field
Feelin’ worried in a hurry like a two-minute drill
To make a couple mil’ off a lucrative deal
For Cole, fans aren’t the only ones to thank for his ability to come out the other side. He also credits his faith in God.
Shit, who would I be?
Without the creator of this theater beside me to gently guide me?
Though he’s confident he could already devour any rapper who’d make a top ten list—the same way he’d devour the all-you-can-eat buffet at chain restaurant Golden Corral—J. Cole closes his verse by claiming he’s far from reaching his peak.
You see a top ten list, I see a Golden Corral, nigga
As the moon jumps over the cow
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
The more I eat, the more it gets stronger
Like their paths to success, the making of “on the street” wasn’t totally smooth sailing, but j-hope says it was worth it. “Looking back, we'e gone through so much to make this happen and it wasn’t always easy,” j-hope told Variety. “If you listen to J. Cole’s verse, you can see how he really put his whole soul into it to tell the story of his life and true feelings within. It took a long time to work on it, and when I finally heard his verse, I was deeply moved.”
You can read all the lyrics to “on the street” on Genius now.
