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beautifulpersonpeach · 1 year

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I like the sound and vibe of On the Street, and I respect and can appreciate J Cole’s writing, but I’m confused about why that was the message chosen for this collab. Army is bombarding comment sections by repeating that it’s a ‘see you later’ song because Hobi is enlisting, but other than the chorus, what about these lyrics conveys that message? Their verses feel like they belong to separate songs to me. I’m not trying to be disrespectful, facetious, condescending, or sarcastic here, I really am confused and would like to understand, and I would appreciate any insights you might be willing to share.

I did see one comment on YouTube that said: “I heard someone say they wanted a second verse from J Hope but then they realized he did give us a second verse… in his first language, dance. And he did it beautifully” and I think this is my favorite take so far. Thank you for your time (sorry if this ask is dumb).

Ask 2: Can you pls review On The Street BPP?

Ask 3: Oh Hobi T T... OH JUNG HOSEOK T T... Oh this song T T...,,, Ugh my heart! Our sunshine, thank you for this wonderful music, experience, and feelings. You got me to the finals. I hope you can watch after me today, too. lol I LOVE YOU JUNK HOSEOK. I hope you are happy. I hope your toughest struggle is something you can overcome. I hope your sweetest memories have people who truly love you to share with if you so wish. Hope the world to you J-HOPE!!!!

Ask 4: I don't want to be rude but "as the moon jumps over the cow"??? Wut?? Isn't J Cole supposed to be some good lyricist? I saw khh and kpop fans questioning this collab and this lyric in particular and I think they're right. BTS should stop giving khh a bad name because now people will hate kpop.

Ask 5: Hi BPP, a lot of people are offended over J.Cole’s verse on atheists being stupid for not believing in a higher people, which further proves to me that they take everything a person says to be something to be Personally offended over, not an honest expression of ones thoughts. And why I think a reason why so many arent listening to true hiphop, true rap, the same ones that the rap line no doubt listened to… It just symbolises to me that these same people are so used to the sanitized version of music that a lot of kpop produces too because jcole’s verse wasnt even that bad honestly… i don’t know, it just came across to me as the same reaction religious people will have when you tell them god doesn’t exist, and a lot of people wont take issue with that too. I know I don’t as someone who belives in a god same way I don’t care that jcole thinks atheists are stupid lool I don’t know im just seeing the hypocrisy and them being unable to let art be art, let music be music.

Ask 6: heyya bbp~!

first of all, congrats to our hobi for another great track!!! haven’t been able to stop looping it bcuz it’s that good!! not only is army loving it, i’ve also seen jcole fans saying good things too and some really checked out hobi’s discography and were impressed,,which is what i’d call a successful collab! out of curiosity i checked the khiphop reddit to read what theyre reactions are but no surprise they only praised jcole and wanted other khiphop artists to have done it instead of hobi hah! i’m surprised that they’re still as snooty towards k-idols turned rappers,,but at the same time snooty ppl be snooty lol. but i’m curious if korean khiphop fans are still turning away the rapline’s work? esp hobi since he’s really made an effort to flex his skills in jitb,,i only ever seen ifans’ opinions and they’re hardly the representative when it comes to khiphop hah!

ofc whatever they’re opinions are it doesn’t impact hobi and suga and rm’s work in the long run,,especially since they’ve earned enough respect from their idols to be able to work with them,,i’m just curious! thankss bpp!

***

These six asks more or less cover the range of questions I've been getting, so I've collated selected asks here to answer all at once. :)

Hi Anon(s),

I'll try to keep this short.

Overall and Abridged Review: On The Street for me is a solid 10/10.

The Lyrics (as I understand them)

Anon in Ask 1, first I’d like to refer you to Hobi’s interview in Variety where he talks about the song (linked here) and I’ve posted an excerpt screenshot below.

Personally, rather than On The Street having a “see you later” message (probably inferred from Hobi waving goodbye to a kid in the opening scene), I see it more as a song marking a pivotal moment in both Hobi and Cole’s careers, as Hobi reflects on the paths he has walked to this point even as he continues on this street called life, and J. Cole wonders out loud if it’s time for a change, to grow beyond his identity as a rapper. It only feels like a “see you later” song in the sense that it will be a companion song, for me personally, while Hobi serves and until he returns from enlistment. I agree with the interpretation in the YouTube comment that Hobi is also storytelling/writing his second verse through dance while J. Cole is rapping, and that this is a beautiful way to see it too - but I’ll expound more on this below in Dance and the Message.

Anon in Ask 4, J. Cole is a brilliant lyricist and it’s funny you mentioned that line in particular because when I first heard it I nearly burst out laughing at how witty and brilliant it is. That line is an example of a classic Jermaine pun. I’ll explain: A lot of people grew up learning nursery rhymes, and one of the more popular ones I recall is Hey Diddle Diddle, which has the rhyme “the cow jumped over the moon”. This nursery rhyme is also the source of the English expression to be “over the moon” I.e. excited, elated, happy. J. Cole took that children’s rhyme and flipped it on it’s head to then mean the passage of time, “as the moon jumps over the cow”. He uses it to express time passing merrily for him as he contemplates his next career move. It’s also an absolutely brilliant way to rhyme with the previous bar that ends in “Golden Corral” (which is easily one of the sickest burns in his verse).

Anon in Ask 5, I agree with you almost fully. Outrage is the name of the game and has been the zeitgeist for at least 5 years now. Like what are you doing on the internet in 2023 if you’re not here annoyed, mocking something, being critical, and raging about something else? Even if that something is another autonomous human being expressing their opinion on God on their own song… Personally, when I come across HCP personalities online, I ignore them. If they interact with me I tell them they’ll somehow find a way to manage and cope, and we’ll all be alright in the end. In the case of this song, ignore them. They'll deal.

Dance and the Message (as I understand it)

Hobi's verse in this song is only 8 bars. J-hope practically gifts this song to J. Cole who spits 32 solid bars on this track. We all know J. Cole - a veteran in the rap game who has earned respect from everyone from Hov, Ye, Kendrick, down to avantgarde heavyweights like Jay Electronica - is one of Hobi's idols and so it's heartwarming to see the way Hobi expresses his respect for J. Cole, dancing underground while J. Cole raps on top of a building with nothing but the sky above him.

J-Hope dances the entirety of J. Cole's verse, just feeling himself, losing himself to the music while his idol spits fire. It's so fucking decadent. At the end of J. Cole's verse, Hobi walks out of the subway and climbs to the top to meet J. Cole as equals.

Hobi begins the song in an NYC alley that opens up into a main street where Hobi performs the song's main choreography on. This is the same location in J. Cole's Simba - the song that starts the Simba trilogy in J. Cole's discography, which was the first main track on J. Cole's debut mixtape The Come Up that established him as a force to be reckoned with on the American rap scene at only 22 years old. The setting alone is a callback and homage to J. Cole's beginnings, on which Hobi raps about his own path, wanting to repay those who have helped formed him into what he is, and the hope he has going forward.

Hobi has done something like this before, calling his first mixtape Hope World reminiscent of J. Cole's debut studio album called Cole World.

The Media and the Message (as I understand it)

One thing I absolutely adore about BTS's songs and music videos, is that they infuse them with the sort of depth that only comes from intimately knowing and respecting the subject matter, and they do so in such a subtle way that it's obvious they expect whoever is watching to actually know both the artist and the subject. They don't spoon-feed anything to the viewer, just present the art as is and if you've done your homework, that means you're their target audience and you're right in the middle of it with them. In the Variety interview I linked above, J-hope references his documentary (Anon who sent me the ask to review it, I've only seen clips and I'm yet to watch the full thing. When I do, I'll write about it 💜), where it shows Hobi meeting J. Cole and how he struggles but ultimately communicates his adoration and respect to Jermaine, and how Jermaine graciously receives it.

Take for instance how Hobi approached Chicken Noodle Soup originally by Bianca a.k.a. Young B who at the time she made that song and its iconic choreo, was only 16 years old. The song went viral but most of the royalties went to her uncle and she received almost nothing, she never got signed to a label, and was so badly burned by the industry that she only attempted making music again nearly 10 years after Chicken Noodle Soup. Hobi credits that song as one of the catalysts that sparked his love for hip hop and street dance. He reached out to Bianca and paid full rights (not just for a sample), to her (not her uncle), to use the song, and the music video is peppered with references to Harlem, NYC, where the song and dance originated. Showing that level of courtesy to smaller Black artists is rare in the US and virtually unheard of in Korea where the Korean hiphop (KHH) community is more notorious for wearing Black drag and appropriating a history of violence and a wealth of culture that they know absolutely nothing about, except that it looks cool.

When k-pop stans wax lyrical about how BTS is racist or does a Blaccent (this personally makes me chuckle because the people you often see saying this are white people who couldn't tell you the difference between an affected accent by a non-native speaker and a Blaccent if each slapped them on either side of their face), or that BTS doesn't have the respect of the Korean (or American) hip hop scene, et cetera, I chuckle and move on. Because as I've said, none of these people actually know what they're talking about.

The OGs of the KHH scene recognized the talent of BTS's rapline since debut, and have only expressed more respect for BTS as the years have gone by. I'm talking Tablo, the rest of Epik High, Tiger JK, etc. The Jay Parks of the world took some time to catch up, and if 'studio picture-gate' is any indication, they too have quickly come around to recognizing where they fit in the landscape relative to BTS. Rappers are generally egotistical people. They usually spend their time rapping about how they're the shit. What earns you respect is if you can actually back that shit up. And once you have that respect, you don't feel threatened by another rapper because you know anyone who gets to the top has had to earn it. It's what informs the mindset of "real recognize real". Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hoseok passed that hurdle, in my opinion, way back in 2016 with the release of Cypher Pt 4. Everything they've done since then is just jarra. And those at the very top, the Black rappers who imbibe the culture and history of rap music, have long recognized the rapline of BTS for what they are.

Personally, I love the song. The music, the whistling, the chord progression, the jazz and acoustic guitar instrumentation. Everything about it is perfect.

On The Street is an excellent example of what sets BTS apart from other idols and artists in Korea for me. This is a song conceived 100% in the mind of Jung Hoseok, and the seamlessness in execution, the maturity inherent in the respect paid to those whose music and culture they use as a medium, is present at every single point in the song. It's tastefully done, and 100% driven by the artist, and all I can do in the face of art like this, is respect it.

#“I LOVE YOU JUNK HOSEOK” is an unfortunate typo Anon in Ask 3 :)#But you're right Hobi has junk... in the front and in the trunk #At least going by that Bon Voyage ep lol #I hope you did well on your finals! 💜#jhope #on the street #j cole #bts #bts rapline #music asks #khh #jung hoseok #hoseok

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