AceShowbiz - J-Hope attended the Louis Vuitton Menswear Spring/Summer 2026 show during Paris Fashion Week on June 24, 2025, in Paris, but recently, his focus turned to celebrating a fellow artist’s milestone.

During a livestream on Weverse coinciding with his birthday on February 18, the BTS member expressed admiration and congratulations to J. Cole for the release of his new album The Fall-Off. Praising the project, j-hope said, “Album went crazy for real!” with a bright smile.

He warmly addressed J. Cole as “Cole hyung,” a Korean term that signifies brotherly respect toward an older male, and declared, “You will always be my GOAT. Thank you, brother. Much love to you.”

J. Cole dropped The Fall-Off on February 6, and the album made an impressive debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. It also charted 21 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, pushing the rapper’s career total to 111 entries on the tally. This achievement ranks him as the 22nd artist ever to surpass 100 entries on the Hot 100.

Despite the commercial success, the bond between j-hope and J. Cole runs deeper than charts. The two first met at Lollapalooza in 2022 and collaborated on the 2023 single On the Street. However, j-hope has been a fan of J. Cole long before their meeting, as BTS reinterpreted Cole’s track Born Sinner into Born Singer back in 2013. This reinterpretation was officially approved by J. Cole for release on BTS’ anthology album Proof.

Following the acclaim for The Fall-Off, BTS is preparing to release their own new album titled Arirang on March 20. The septet has spent recent years focusing on solo projects and fulfilling mandatory military service commitments in South Korea.

The camaraderie and mutual respect between these influential artists highlight the global nature of modern hip-hop and K-pop collaborations, further exciting fans awaiting BTS’ upcoming release.