President Kagame with J. Cole. Photo/Village Urugwiro.
President Paul Kagame on Monday met Jermaine Cole, the American rapper and now basketball player, popularly known as J. Cole at Village Urugwiro. No further details of the courtesy call have been revealed.
J. Cole has been in Rwanda playing as a shooting guard for the local side Patriots Basketball Club in the ongoing Basketball League Africa (BAL), bringing his star power to the continent tournamental which is being played in Rwanda for the first time.
The Patriots signed Cole for at least three weeks and his transition into professional basketball has been the talk of the world. His signing for the Rwandan champions grabbed global headlines, with many looking forward to his performance.
In his previous game on Saturday, which President Kagame and the First Lady Mrs. Jeannette Kagame, watched, Cole only managed two points againt Tunisian giants US Monastir, a game which the Patriots lost 75-91.
The rapper, 36, who released his latest album “Off-Season” when he was in Rwanda, has had a tough game, scoring three points and managing three rebounds in the game against Nigerian side Rivers Hoopers and has shot 50 percent from the field but also registered three fouls in 12 minutes of play.
However many have praised his defensive skills while some say that his presence at the BAL is huge for the inaugural edition. Last week he got NBA Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry on Instagram live to speak to the team and motivate them ahead of the game against US Monastir.
While in Rwanda, his album “The Off-Season”, released on May 14, hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with 2021’s biggest week for a hip-hop release, as the set launches with 282,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 20, according to MRC Data.
According to the Billboard website, “The Off-Season”, which was released via Dreamville/Roc Nation/Interscope, also scored the year’s largest streaming week for any album.
