Kota the Friend

Brooklyn rapper Kota the Friend bucks trends, favoring musically rich instrumentals and vivid, sometimes surreal wordplay over the interchangeable trap styles of many of his peers. His personal, often introspective lyrics and jazz-inflected beats met with well-groomed production on his 2020 album, Everything. In addition to further studio efforts like 2022's MEMO, Kota has frequently uploaded episodes of his visual project Lyrics to GO and has released five volumes of music from the series. He has also collaborated with producer Statik Selektah on three full-lengths: 2021's To...