Injury Reserve - Injury Reserve: Review

Injury Reserve

are an Arizona based hip hop trio of MCs Ritchie With A T and Stepa J Groggs as well as producer Parker Corey. The trio turned heads with their debut mixtape Live From The Dentist Office and continued to receive critical acclaim for their futuristic and hard hitting rap style on their 2016 mixtape Floss and their 2017 EP Drive It Like It's Stolen. Now the trio has taken a year off and lined up to release their debut studio album After attracting features from Amine and Rico Nasty to serve as singles Injury Reserve has the potential to be the groups most popular release yet. 

Review By Lavender:

Injury Reserve have been heroes of underground rap for years now and while many fell head over heels for them my admiration for the group has always been a touch more tempered. They consistently release very solid material with exotic and experimental highs that have landed them on my singles of the year lists twice but I had my questions about their turn to a studio project until the two lead singles for this project both excited me. Unfortunately the depth isn't quite here and while I think this is the groups most inconsistent project yet, there is more than enough here to be excited for their future. 

Let's first dive into those two singles that had me so excited for this project. Jawbreaker is an absolutely zany and thematic song all about fashion in the hypebeast era. Ritchie rattles off a sharp and hilarious verse about the pitfalls of modern fashion and dressing exclusively for clout which is paired with an earth shattering and hard hitting Pro Teens hook. Not to mention one of many fantastic features on the album with Rico Nasty delivering an inspiring yet furious verse that wraps up the track nicely. I was somehow even more impressed with the next track Jailbreak The Tesla. Ritchie delivers a futuristic and wild hook and every part of his verse has a wild electronic feel. The bridge is the kind of thing you would never hear on a rap album with the glitchy "How to hack a Tesla car" refrain and the huge sonic soundscape they build to hang in the background. But by far my favorite part of the song is Amine's closing verse that is smooth, hilarious and an instant qualifier for one of my favorite features all year. Referencing Grimes, Elon Musk taking shrooms and the silent engine of Tesla cars the verse is witty and perfectly delivered. Finally there was a third single just last week released, Koruna & Lime. The beat is banging and the wild chanting layered over blurry vocal samples is instantly intoxicating. Groggs hits right away with a huge Snoop inspired flow where the "don't say shit like you speaking in mime" bar stuck out to me in particular and this track lands as a solid introductory song. 

Since the features were something I was so excited about and have already praised next we will talk about some of the other MCs I was excited to hear on this album. GTFU is the hardest track here and fittingly features banger veterans JPEGMAFIA and Cakes Da Killa who help make the first half of this song an absolutely flooring moment. Peggy handles the hook and it is dirty, grimy and straight up vile in every way you could possibly want it to be. Cakes is up first and delivers an absolutely nasty verse followed by a great Ritchie verse that starts with him rapping with no beat but kicks into it. The big issue here is the second half of the song that senselessly transitions into a much more personal and low energy song that just absolutely did not belong. It's a strange choice that I am not a fan of and one that hinders what would have been the hardest track on the entire album.

Similar issues arise on New Hawaii which has a Dram inspired instrumental, fitting as Dram himself features on the song. While the song features some solid contributions from the boys in the second half and more than proves that Dram may have the smoothest vocals of anyone on earth, save for maybe Anderson .Paak. The problem is the completely flat and awful Tony Velour hook on the first half of this thing is quite patience testing and once the first half of the track has gone by it seems like it is completely pointless to how the track develops and I have no idea why it was included. The final feature is a great one that comes on a great song, Freddie Gibbs at the tail end of Wax On. Even though it doesn't have my favorite hook Injury Reserve has ever written Groggs gets personal and intimate on his great verse and this is one of the few points they work strings into the instrumental which I like a lot. But make no mistake Freddie Gibbs gives the track a whole different energy with his cutthroat, dark and icy verse full of great wordplay and an actual improvement on the hook.

And what is left of this surprisingly short album is two fantastic songs and a handful of more mixed cuts. Gravy n' Biscuits is a track that grew on me big time after confusing me on first listen. The hook is kooky and hilarious and after hearing it a few times I completely fell for it and it has been stuck in my head ever since. Groggs also delivers an amazing verse on this track and while Ritchie is decent when the hook comes back around again all is forgiven and this track is one of my favorites. Finally the amazing closing track Three Man Weave may be my favorite song on the entire album. It sees Ritchie and Groggs trading off a series of slick and nostalgic verses comparing their come-up to the famous basketball three man weave play. The lyrics here are personal and hilarious and they narrate the groups journey to where they are now with a genuine sincerity that I smile just thinking about and that makes for a fantastic closing song.

Rap Song Tutorial is a classic Injury Reserve moment that sees a Siri type voice narrating the steps to which one must take to create a rap song. The track is cheeky and hilarious and ultimately the song that is created as a result of the steps is a fantastic one that I'd actually love to hear in full length form. The only issue I have is that after listening to this thing four or fives times in a week I did get a little bored with the song, it may not be one to revisit constantly but every time you sit down to hear the record it is a pretty solid moment.

Best Spot In The House has a pretty interesting beat with some weirdly stretched out synths that I grew on a lot and a very sharp verse from Ritchie as the opener. There are a few interesting lyrical moments regarding fame and the groups success that are engaging and Parker makes a rare vocal appearance on a decent but kind of lifeless hook. Ultimately this is a decent song and one of the better lowkey cuts here. Finally there is What A Year It's Been which tries to achieve the same success as the last track but doesn't quite nail it in the same way. The song samples a Silver Mt. Zion track which is SO Injury Reserve but unfortunately it doesn't pay off because the very stripped back instrumental doesn't stay fresh and neither do either of the verses that lace it. Once the booming drums kick in the song gets a little bit better but still manages to slide out with a whimper and be one of the least engaging songs here.

As a final product Injury Reserve isn't quite as groundbreaking or showstopping as it could have been given how talented the trio is but since the growing pains of putting together a proper studio album can be difficult to overcome I am comfortable giving them another chance to wow me. Meanwhile a handful of the singles here are great and there are some excellent deep cuts so the talent of the group endures and shines in its moments and I look forward to a potentially longer and more consistent project next. 6.5/10

Best Track: Three Man Weave

For more experimental rap check out my review of Kevin Abstract's Arizona Baby here.