Kota The Friend’s second studio album, “Everything,” released May 22, 2020. Kota, born Radhames Rodriguez, is an artist from Brooklyn, New York. This album epitomizes the word “vibe”. The entire album focuses on the feeling you get from the music, rather than amazing you with wild flows, lyrical content or groundbreaking production. Kota is sure to mention the vibes of the album throughout, with lyrics mentioning the vibes of the track sprinkled amongst the entire album.
Although “Everything” is an album that will not wow you with the wordplay and metaphors found in most hip hop, Kota does an excellent job of painting a picture for his listeners. His descriptive style of rap create beautiful moments of reminiscent memories and thoughts of the future.
“Everything” contains features from big artists such as Bas, Joey Bada$$ and KYLE, as well as smaller artists such as Alex Banin, Hello Oshay, Kaiit, tobi lou and Braxton Cook. The outro of the album, titled “Everything,” contains speaking roles for his son, nicknamed Lil Kota.
For a listener looking for music to roll the windows down and cruise to, “Everything” is the perfect album. The variety of the subject matter is one weak suit of the album but this may be Kota’s way of finding his target audience. With that being said, Kota The Friend’s second studio album, “Everything,” receives a rating of 7/10.
-Sojourner Freeman