KOTA The Friend - Chicago Diner

Music 4 years ago

KOTA The Friend - Chicago Diner

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.