No album warrants a tracklist of 19 songs.
Yet, in crafting a worthy spiritual successor to the Rawkus Records era of music that many fondly romanticize,
KOTA The Friend comes as close as humanly possible to justifying this run-time on FOTO. The album personifies the term “easy-listening,” maintaining a consistent mood throughout between KOTA’s strikingly unaffected delivery and the delicate, jazzy production on which he raps.
No slouch on the mic, KOTA possesses a rare gift for situating bravado alongside vulnerability.
He conjures favorable similarities to Phonte at his best, but not so much that FOTO ever suffers for these comparisons.
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