Kota the Friend's music is much bigger than rap
By Sam Kohn, Co-Editor-In-Chief
As a musician, I’ve noticed that in order to separate yourself and your music from your contemporaries, you must find your own distinct style and sound. This is an idea discussed in the first episode of The Samohi’s podcast, “Samo Unmuted”, and it is now also a feat achieved by Kota the Friend with his latest album “Lyrics to GO, Volume Two.”
Kota has what I’ll coin “lyrical agility.” The album is 10 songs in length, but only 15 minutes in total. The longest song is a measly one minute, 50 seconds. Antithetical to the length of songs from hip hop legends like Kendrick Lamar and seen more from rappers like Tierra Whack or Comethazine, Kota’s short songs require him to constantly give the listener a fresh flow, hopping in and out of cadences with grace and agility. Short songs also mean that only the most important lyrics have a chance to be included. What Kota spits on this album is real, whether it is talking about how he envisions his future life in “200 Dollars” and his internal mental struggles on “Emotionally Dumb.” He is lyrically agile, and not a word is wasted on this album.
“I like how Kota raps about real stuff and leaves space for his beats when rapping,” David Hix (’22), a musician at Samo and a big fan of Kota, said. “[For example], his third song off the album is about his city being gentrified.”
Although I value lyrics over everything, the importance of the backing instrumental should not be understated. The vibe on Kota’s instrumentals in this album reasserts the niche he is building for himself in the annals of rap history. He has a distinctive “lofi” feel to his beats, which is to say that his beats are much chiller, much more lighthearted compared to other rappers. I do have to mention though, many of the beats on this album sounded too alike. I would hope in the future that Kota is able to vary his beat selection more; it could assist in setting the right mood for his lyrical storytelling. Since the album is so short though, maybe having similar beats was exactly what Kota wanted.
I wanted to review this album because I believe it represents where the rap industry will be in a couple years. As a society, our attention span has been consistently dwindling since the integration of social media into our day-to-day lives. To many, a three-hour movie is unbearable, and even a five minute YouTube video could be too much if it doesn’t immediately catch their attention. Who is to say that music will not be the next industry to fall victim to our decaying attention spans? I mentioned Kendrick earlier, and his music demonstrates that this hidden trend is already in effect. His 2012 album “good kid, m.A.A.d city” had an average song length of five minutes, 37 seconds. His 2015 album “To Pimp a Butterfly” had an average song length of four minutes, 56 seconds. His 2017 album “DAMN” had an average song length of three minutes, 57 seconds. This isn’t coincidence, this is intentional. Rap songs will only get shorter as time progresses, and regardless of if longform rap resurges down the line, Kota the Friend and “Lyrics to GO, Vol. 2” shows us that there is beauty, lyrical creativity and melodious potential in this quicker style of hip hop.