KOTA the Friend & Statik Selektah - To Kill A Sunrise ALBUM REVIEW

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Preparing for that summer vibe right here.


KOTA the Friend has always been an artist I’ve been hot and cold on. The first time I had heard of him was his 2020 album EVERYTHING, which I thought was a very good showing for an upcoming artist. For his second release of 2021, he teams up for an entire album produced by Statik Selektah, To Kill A Sunrise. I feel that Statik Selektah has been punching under his weight lately, and hopefully, I’m proven wrong on this. Let’s just get right into it.

First, let’s get into the production. I think Statik Selektah took a lot of inspiration from Madlib and Nujabes, with the overall laid-back atmosphere mixed with some eclectic samples. With that, I do feel like Statik Selektah did underperform on this album because these beats really start to wear out its welcome over this short project. No wonder KOTA is credited first because I think he masters his flows over these beats very well. KOTA doesn’t tend to take faster flows or go hard in his verses, but I’m very impressed when he does this, and that applies to To Kill A Sunrise. Some of the best songs of KOTA’s career so far appear on here, especially “The Cold” and “Wolves.”

I think that To Kill A Sunrise is a much-needed left turn for KOTA the Friend and is proof that he’s much more versatile than previously known. If he blends this sound with the sound from EVERYTHING and his series of Lyrics to GO albums, his potential could finally be realized. For Statik Selektah, though, it’s a bit of a step back for me. While the production here is fine, it could’ve been so much better. This is a pretty good project, and this finally convinced me to keep a better eye on KOTA the Friend.


7/10


Listen here

YouTube Music





To Kill A Sunrise is a Fitbys LLC release.

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