J. Cole Is About To Ball Out in China, and This Might Be the Most Seattle Thing Ever

Okay, so this is wild: rapper J. Cole just signed with the Nanjing Monkey Kings of the Chinese Basketball Association. Yeah, that J. Cole. The multi-Grammy winner. The guy who has been on tracks with Kendrick Lamar, Janet Jackson, and Young Thug. He's not just dropping albums anymore, he's dropping buckets in the CBA.

From Rwanda to the CBA: Cole's Basketball Journey

This isn't Cole's first rodeo with professional hoops either. The man, whose full name is Jermaine Cole, already has some serious league experience under his belt. He played with the Rwanda Patriots in the Basketball Africa League back in 2021, and then he suited up for the Scarborough Shooting Stars in the Canadian Elite Basketball League in 2022. Now he's taking his game to one of the biggest basketball markets in the world.

Cole committed to playing a few games for Nanjing last year and is now making good on that promise. This dude is serious about the sport. He played high school basketball in North Carolina, so he's not just picking up a ball for the first time in the spotlight.

From Grammy Stage to Court

Cole's résumé is absolutely stacked. He won a Grammy in 2020 for Best Rap Song on "A Lot" with 21 Savage, and he's got a shelf full of BET Hip Hop Awards. His catalog includes six Platinum albums, and he's produced tracks for some of the biggest names in music. His latest project, "The Fall-Off," dropped in February and shows he's still got that creative fire.

So what's next? Cole heads to China with the Nanjing Monkey Kings and gets to live out this basketball dream while the rest of us watch from home. This is the kind of story that makes sports weird and wonderful at the same time.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.