KOTA the Friend Reinvents the Music Video with 'Lyrics to Go'

If i say “hip hop web series”, you probably think of some kind of documentary. Whether it’s something like the day-in-the-life approach of Noisey’s web content, the iconoclastic declinations of Pitchfork’s Over / Under, or, more pragmatically, Genius’ Deconstructed.

KOTA the Friend’s Lyric’s To Go is something different entirely. While its title suggest some kind of freestyle demonstration captured on the fly (at least that’s what I thought it would be), it’s actually an ambitious collection of bite-sized music videos, like so many visual vow of minimalism embracing KOTA’s approach to rap.

While there are variations on the theme, it’s more often a portrait of the self-made Brooklyn rapper in an urban setting, staring right in the chamber of the camera, mouthing his part with nonchalance while it closes in on a subtle, contemplative zoom-in. The addition of subtitles is a brilliant way to highlight hip hop’s true star : the lyrics.

For some reason, I’d look at these hypnotic capsules for hours, despite my Internet-age ADD. They’re so gorgeous, I want to display them as art on my wall.

Here are a couple of my favorite episodes, but know they’re all good, so you should go check out KOTA the Friend’s YouTube channel :