Marlon Craft and KOTA The Friend Take to FaceTime for "Mom's Whiskey" Visual

Marlon Craft has dropped off a special music video for his collaborative track with KOTA The Friend, “Mom’s Whiskey.” A fan favorite freestyle from his “Flavors” video series, the Yusei-produced song sees a visual completely shot on FaceTime as the world continues to follow self-isolation protocols against the coronavirus pandemic.

“Originally this song was part of a series I did called “Flavors” to fill a creative void while I was getting all the paperwork and mixing done on my Funhouse Mirror album. I was doing these vignettes and making these little stories on how I was feeling at the time,” Craft said. “I wrote “Mom’s Whiskey” mad late one night, completely broke, waiting for the album to drop, and I literally found a stashed bottle of my mom’s whiskey that she had hidden. I found that beat on YouTube and it all just spilled out.”

The Hell’s Kitchen native and lyricist is keeping himself busy during quarantine, creating a #16ADAY challenge, a “Balcony Blues” series and working on an upcoming EP entitled Work From Home. Craft is also continuing to serve his community with the creation of a digital Workweek with his OUR.S organization, aiming to support non-profits in New York City along with raising donations of up to $16,000 USD for essential workers.

Marlon Craft spoke to HYPEBEAST further about the creation of “Mom’s Whiskey,” his long-time friendship with KOTA and keeping sane in the time of self-quarantine.

How did you, Yusei and KOTA end up linking for the track?

I recorded it and mixed it myself and put it out. I had never seen a response like the one I got from the song. People resonated with it so heavy and wanted it on streaming platforms so bad. I only considered it a little freestyle thing so I didn’t have the rights to the beat. I finally got all that figured out, but I wanted to do something special and different with it to bring it to streaming, and I always want to serve my OG fans as well as the new ones. I always heard KOTA on it and we’ve known each other a long time and are fans of each other’s music. I was like, “Yo, I’ma surprise the fans by finally bringing it to streaming, but I’ma get KOTA on it, rework it, get it mixed and make it extra special.” I hit KOTA and he was down.

How have you been keeping yourself sane in this time of self-isolation?

I’ve been creating like crazy during the quarantine. I’ve always felt that I need music to breathe and that creating it has saved my life and my mind, and that shit has been super reaffirmed during this time. I’m obsessively creating to take my mind off things and express myself. I’m grateful to have an outlet that helps me and also contributes in some small way to making some people’s days better right now.

As far as adapting to the quarantine, I’ve been trying to just take sh*t day by day. When I start to think too big, I get lost and intimidated by the magnitude of it all. Everyday I just try to appreciate everything I have to be grateful for, and not get too caught up in what I have to be salty about, as well as think about ways I can contribute. [I've] been putting together a digital Workweek with my OUR.S organization for community engagement, and that’s been keeping me going as well. [G]onna be a lot more details on that soon.