[1] He got his stage name from the Disney movie Brother Bear and is actually a Native American word "Koda" meaning friend.

In March of that year he dropped the sequel to To Kill A Sunrise, in To See A Sunset, which was also produced by Statik Selektah and had a deluxe version released later on.

"[5] Kota spent much of his time working weekend jobs to make enough money to build an at-home music studio.

[1][8] He frequently cites a do-it-yourself mentality, such as filming his own music videos, recording within a home setup, and producing most of his discography.

Kota's third studio album, MEMO, was released in July 2022 with only two features, the returning Hello O'shay and singer Brianna Castro.

Kota the Friend owns FLTBYS (pronounced Flight Boys), a skate, music and travel culture brand, which he started when he was a student in the 11th grade in Brooklyn, New York.

[6] He purchased a building in Midtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 2020, which houses his FLTBYS retail store on the ground floor.

This album is a collaboration with producer Statik Selektah, who Sligh claims "challenge Kota to push new boundaries in his artistry."

In a Genius interview, Kota the Friend cited Jay-Z, Nasty C, Kid Cudi, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and others as musical influences.

His song "Pomegranate" was used in the Netflix movie You People (2023), which starred Eddie Murphy, Jonah Hill, Nia Long, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.