J. Cole Makes Pro Basketball Debut With Patriots Basketball Club in Rwanda

What a week Jermaine has had.

Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty

With all due respect to the legitimate basketball career that he presumably hopes to have for quite some time, the sports-themed roll-out for J. Cole‘s sixth studio album, The Off-Season, has been significantly bolstered by his debut in the Basketball Africa League with the Rwandan Patriots Basketball Club. Let his manager Ibrahim Hamad tell it, this is just a case of extreme serendipity that has intersected rap music and basketball in an unprecedented way.

Yesterday, Cole took to the court to participate in his first professional game while The Off-Season was busy burning up streaming charts and social media pages with excited reactions to the music. According to ESPN, #15, Jermaine Cole, ended his debut with 3 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists in just 18 minutes of play.

The Basketball Africa League is a joint effort program between the NBA and FIBA in an attempt to broaden basketball’s already universal appeal overseas. Having one of the most popular artists in modern times on a roster certainly doesn’t hurt the league’s marketing even if Cole isn’t quite a starter much less a star player.

It will be interesting to see where Cole’s career both behind the mic and on the parquet floor goes from here. It appears that he’s prepared to make his peace with the rap game and dedicate himself to being a baller full time.

As if Cole wasn’t already on fire, it was just announced that he will be releasing a music video for his new banger “a m a r i” today.

Cole world.