{"id":20419,"date":"2021-10-18T22:13:19","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T02:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/kota-the-friend-brings-fans-to-bed-stuy-for-everything-album-signing\/"},"modified":"2025-02-13T09:40:47","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T14:40:47","slug":"kota-the-friend-brings-fans-to-bed-stuy-for-everything-album-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/kota-the-friend-brings-fans-to-bed-stuy-for-everything-album-signing\/","title":{"rendered":"KOTA the Friend Brings Fans to Bed-Stuy for ‘Everything’ Album Signing"},"content":{"rendered":"

For rapper KOTA the Friend<\/strong><\/a>, celebrating the people that celebrate him is one of the most important things. And on Sunday in Bed-Stuy he kept true to that with an album signing at Bedford Stuyvesant\u2019s Skal caf\u00e9 the day after his 29th<\/sup>\u00a0birthday.<\/p>\n

Fans lined up for the chance to talk to the Brooklyn-native, pick up a signed copy of his album EVERYTHING<\/strong><\/a>, get a selfie in, and even share some of their own art and music with the independent musician.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For KOTA the Friend, Brooklyn is home and the event gave him a chance to reconnect with his community after the long COVID-19 lockdowns \u2013 and his community was ready to meet him there. The line to meet KOTA the Friend snaked out of the caf\u00e9 and down Lewis Avenue, with fans coming from across the five boroughs, Long Island and Upstate New York, to get some face time in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reminds me of when I first started doing shows and touring,\u201d\u00a0KOTA the Friend\u00a0said<\/strong>. \u201cThe first time I ever saw a line it meant a lot. I\u2019ll never forget those moments, when people come to see me, it means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Jael Thomas<\/strong>, who had brought her dad along, it was the first time she\u2019d been able to see\u00a0KOTA the Friend\u00a0in the flesh after being a fan for years. Just the vibe of being there and close to a source of inspiration made her feel positive, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is one of my favorite albums. One of my favorite songs on the album is Long Beach, it makes me feel catered to. It makes me feel like a queen, honestly. So yeah, there\u2019s a lot of positivity with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Ben Wexler<\/strong>, a musician himself, it was\u00a0KOTA the Friend\u2019s honest lyrics and ability to speak to everyday people that inspired him to come out, \u201cI just wanted to show up to support him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Everything is KOTA the Friend\u2019s fourth studio album and features appearances from artists\u00a0Joey Bada$$,\u00a0Braxton Cook,\u00a0Bas,\u00a0KYLE, and more. The album also includes an interlude track by\u00a0Lupita Nyong\u2019o, the first song on the\u00a0Biden\/Harris Inauguration Playlist<\/a>, and one from actor\u00a0Lakeith Stanfield.<\/p>\n

It was\u00a0KOTA the Friend\u2019s first album printed on vinyl, and he said the novelty and nostalgia of a record made it feel right to do the more old school feeling record signing.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo even see any of my music printed on vinyl is just crazy, it\u2019s so hard to come by; you normally need a record deal or record label to be printed on vinyl. So the fact that I\u2019m independent and I\u2019m able to have my music on a vinyl that\u2019s being mass produced and sold all over the world, that\u2019s a big win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

KOTA the Friend\u00a0chose Skal, a Danish-inspired caf\u00e9 in Bed-Stuy, for the signing, which also hosted a DJ and marketplace for Black creators for the event. Core to the caf\u00e9\u2019s aim is creating community events and spaces.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As KOTA the Friend said, \u201cit\u2019s all about the give back. It\u2019s important on days when I\u2019m being celebrated that I celebrate the people that celebrate me, you know it\u2019s always good to give back, even on the days when it\u2019s about you.\u201d<\/p>\n

KOTA the Friend released his debut mixtape\u00a0Palm Tree Liquor\u00a0in 2016, following it a year later with his second mixtape, Paloma Beach. His first independent studio album\u00a0Anything<\/a>\u00a0was released in 2018, followed by his second album\u00a0FOTO<\/a>\u00a0in 2019, which was ranked 17th\u00a0best Hip Hop album of the year by Rolling Stone. His third album,\u00a0Lyrics to GO, Vol. 1<\/a>, was released in 2020, along with his album EVERYTHING \u2014 which peaked at 162 on the Billboard 200.<\/p>\n

In 2021, KOTA the Friend has so far released two albums:\u00a0Lyrics to GO, Vol. 2<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0To Kill a Sunrise<\/a>\u00a0in collaboration with Statik Selektah \u2013 who turned up to the Brooklyn cafe in support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to say to the fans thank you,\u201d\u00a0KOTA the Friend\u00a0said. For always supporting me, for always being there, all of the positive messages on social media and Instagram, Twitter, everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> Kota the Friend will be opening his FLTBYS flagship brick and mortar<\/strong><\/a> retail store November 11 in Harrisburg PA, and Friday November 12 he will be headlining at Flight Night<\/strong><\/a>, the fltbys Music Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For rapper KOTA the Friend, celebrating the people that celebrate him is one of the most important things. And on Sunday in Bed-Stuy he kept true to that with an album signing at Bedford Stuyvesant\u2019s Skal caf\u00e9 the day after his 29th\u00a0birthday. Fans lined up for the chance to talk to the Brooklyn-native, pick up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5893,"featured_media":20420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,524,2717],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-brooklyn-events","category-bk-news"],"yoast_head":"\nKOTA the Friend Brings Fans to Bed-Stuy for ‘Everything’ Album Signing - Brooklyn News and Events<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/kota-the-friend-brings-fans-to-bed-stuy-for-everything-album-signing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"KOTA the Friend Brings Fans to Bed-Stuy for ‘Everything’ Album Signing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For rapper KOTA the Friend, celebrating the people that celebrate him is one of the most important things. 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