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"on the street" is a digital single by j-hope and J. Cole. It was released on March 3, 2023.
In his solo single “on the street“, j-hope shares his candid feelings toward fans. The song was released as a gift and a kind of ‘goodbye’ to them, as j-hope has initiated the enlistment process for completing his military service, which is mandatory in South Korea.
The title “on the street” refers to j-hope’s roots as a former competitive street dancer and a member of a Gwangju dance crew, NEURON. That got him on the path to being recruited by BigHit in 2010, and later to becoming a member of BTS. Hope on the street is also the name of j-hope's street dancing videos series he’s publishing since 2015.
For the song, j-hope invited renowned American rapper J. Cole. The song marks their first collaboration; however, it wasn’t that much of a surprise for his fans. j-hope showed admiration for Cole’s music before—he made a shout-out to Cole’s 2011 debut studio album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, in his verse in “힙합성애자 (Hip Hop Phile)” off BTS' first full studio album, 2014's Dark & Wild. Moreover, “Born Singer,” which describes BTS' journey from trainees to rookie idols, was written by j-hope, RM, and SUGA to the instrumental of Cole's “Born Sinner.” BTS released that song on SoundCloud in 2013, just a month after their debut, but in 2022 they got clearance from the original composers (including J. Cole) and released it officially as a part of their anthology album, PROOF. Both rappers finally met during 2022 Lollapalooza, where j-hope made history, becoming the first South Korean act to headline a main stage at a US festival.
“With “on the street,” I wanted to get closer to my contemporaries—people like me as we live through the same age. I wanted to share ‘down to earth’ hope and comfort.
I thought “on the street” would be a great song to reveal this time around with the change of season from winter to spring. I wanted to share warmth through the song to serve as ‘shelter’ from the cold wind and support everyone’s new beginning.
Since the release of Jack In The Box, I kept asking myself, ‘What drove me here? What made me who I am now?’ 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. It is a part of the learning process to become a more mature artist.“
“It goes back to Lollapalooza last summer. J. Cole is my idol and we met there. Since then, I couldn’t stop thinking about how great it would be if we could make music together. So I reached out to him. I already had a plan in mind to release music around this time, and I began working on it in early November 2022. As much as it took me a while to finish the song, I cherish it so much and it means a lot to me.“
“To be honest, it still feels unreal. It’s such an honor. Looking back, we'e gone through so much to make this happen and it wasn’t always easy. 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. I also put in a lot of effort to convey my genuine feelings. If you watched my documentary film, j-hope IN THE BOX, you can tell how hard I tried to speak out of my heart even with my lack of English while meeting him at Lollapalooza. As I’m a big fan who full-heartedly supports J. Cole, I think my sincerity reached him. The whole process was such an invaluable experience.“
— j-hope via Variety
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