{"id":1152,"date":"2023-01-08T20:06:15","date_gmt":"2023-01-08T20:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/kota-the-friend-talks-about-secrets-to-his-success-as-an-independent-artist-in-this-exclusive-interview-with-rush\/"},"modified":"2023-01-08T20:06:15","modified_gmt":"2023-01-08T20:06:15","slug":"kota-the-friend-talks-about-secrets-to-his-success-as-an-independent-artist-in-this-exclusive-interview-with-rush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/?p=1152","title":{"rendered":"Kota the Friend Talks About Secrets to His Success As an Independent Artist in This Exclusive Interview With RUSH"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by Jack Carenza | <a href=\"https:\/\/todayshiphop.com\/rush-interview-drives-home-kota-the-friends-independent-impact\/\"><strong>TodaysHipHop.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Kota the Friend\u2019s\u00a0<\/b>independent impact\u00a0continues to shape the hip-hop landscape.\u00a0 His most recent interview on\u00a0<i>Athletes, Hip Hop, Motivation\u00a0<\/i>hosted by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/itsjamesrush.com\/\">Australian storyteller<\/a>\u00a0<b>Rush<\/b>\u00a0only furthers that narrative.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GN_pmBnmzHQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>\u201cWhen I started making music, I thought the only way I could make it is if I had a record label,\u201d\u00a0<\/i>Kota shares at the beginning of the interview.\u00a0\u00a0<i>\u201cThe only way you can be an independent artist is if you really love what you do. Because it takes passion to be independent.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That passion oozes from the music of the Brooklyn wordsmith but is even more prevalent when examining the archetype and opportunity he provides for fellow independent artists.\u00a0 In 2022 alone, Kota and FLTBYS have given nearly 50 independent artists a platform, through\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fltbys.com\/pages\/flight-night\">Flight Night Music Festival<\/a>, to showcase their talents. Flight Night has become the premier music festival to identify top up-and-coming talent.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ben Michael<\/b>, artist manager of Chicago Flight Night performer<a href=\"https:\/\/todayshiphop.com\/chicago-flight-night-artist-spotlight-brittney-carter\/\">\u00a0Brittney Carter<\/a>\u00a0spoke about the festival\u2019s impact on his artist.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c<i>Kota has created a culture of generous and engaging fans.\u00a0 Flight Night was an incredible opportunity for us to tap into and connect with a full house of those people.\u00a0 Off the stage, it was an opportunity to meet and build relationships with so many creatives and their teams.<\/i>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Independent Black man, I want the whole key lime\u2026<\/h3>\n<p>Kota the Friend\u2019s independent impact through Flight Night is obvious.\u00a0 But the blueprint his career provides for burgeoning musicians is equally profound.\u00a0 In the interview with Rush, he offers gems regarding his creative process and business moves.\u00a0 Both of which should be carefully studied by indie artists looking to break through.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cWhat\u2019s the one idea you\u2019ve had that changed the game for you?\u201d\u00a0<\/i>asks Rush.\u00a0 In a time where content is king, Kota\u2019s response should come as no surprise.\u00a0\u00a0<i>\u201cThe content I was creating now known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tTE1Bj7M8KE&amp;list=PL3_qeynJB4JxKSW53ArX8Jsp9f0gKNBFf\"><strong>Lyrics to Go<\/strong><\/a>\u2026Before short-form videos were a thing, and before Tik Tok, I was making these 1-minute videos where I would write a 16-bar verse over a popular beat, or YouTube\u00a0beat.\u00a0 I would make this video where I would stand completely still and put the yellow subtitles at the bottom of the videos.\u00a0 That idea took me from nobody listening to my music, to actually gaining fans on a weekly basis.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tTE1Bj7M8KE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Weeks away from the release of\u00a0<b>Volume 4<\/b>\u00a0of his\u00a0<i>Lyrics to Go<\/i>\u00a0series, Kota\u2019s response shows the importance of finding an original, repeatable format of content, and perfecting it.\u00a0 That consistency bleeds into another point that Kota makes later on in the interview.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>\u201cIf you love something, you should do it every day\u2026For me it\u2019s music.\u00a0 Music is something I love so I\u2019m gonna do it every day even if it\u2019s for an hour or two hours.\u00a0 That\u2019s how you keep the passion going.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>To\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/todayshiphop.com\/industry-insights-from-four-top-independent-artist-managers\/\">make it as an independent artist<\/a>, one must constantly invest time, energy, and passion into their trade.\u00a0 Enjoy the process as much as the results, the accolades.\u00a0 Kota\u2019s career exemplifies that consistency and creative energy are maintainable when an artist is truly passionate about their craft.\u00a0 With the right attitude and vision, an independent artist can turn their music into a sustainable business.\u00a0 Studying the path of an artist like Kota the Friend, who has turned that dream into a reality is a great place to start.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Subscribe to <a href=\"https:\/\/todayshiphop.com\/\">TodaysHipHop.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Jack Carenza | TodaysHipHop.com Kota the Friend\u2019s\u00a0independent impact\u00a0continues to shape the hip-hop landscape.\u00a0 His most recent interview on\u00a0Athletes, Hip Hop, Motivation\u00a0hosted by\u00a0Australian storyteller\u00a0Rush\u00a0only furthers that narrative. \u201cWhen I started making music, I thought the only way I could make it is if I had a record label,\u201d\u00a0Kota shares at the beginning of the interview.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}