Kota the Friend

Kota The Friend is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Kota has over 1.8 million monthly Spotify listeners and he has nearly 1 billion streams globally.

Kota has remained an independent artist throughout his career—turning down 3 major record label offers: instead, creating his own label and apparel brand, FLTBYS, short for Flight Boys. He frequently cites a do-it-yourself mentality, such as filming his own music videos, recording within a home setup or on the streets of New York or whatever city he happens to be in, and producing most of his discography. His mentality was fueled by a desire for creative freedom and to avoid the sense of musical confinement.

Kota most recently released his 5th Lyrics to Go album, titled ‘Lyrics to Go Volume 5’, on January 25, 2024 with two songs featuring Hit Boy, the grammy winning producer who recently produced an entire project for Nas.

Kota is a trained musician, with the trumpet as his main instrument. He has been known to randomly stop in at guitar stores throughout the country while he’s on tour, to sing songs while playing the acoustic guitar, just for fun. Although Kota is a trained musician he has been extremely successful as an independent hip hop artist.