That’s right, the experimental hip hop trio from Arizona has finally released their self-titled debut after formally signing to Loma Vista Recordings back in September of 2018. Craaaazy. These guys have already come out with two independently released albums, Live From the Dentist Office in 2015 and Floss in 2016, as well as their Drive It Like It’s Stolen EP in 2017. Amidst all of these releases, the group has remained relatively lowkey in the hip hop scene, and my hope is that this debut will finally bring them out of their underrated status and into a new and well-deserved limelight.
Injury Reserve’s sound has always been unconventional. Their take on jazz rap and alternative hip hop incorporates an endless plethora of wonky, glitchy, and futuristic sounds often combined with catchy, trap beats that form a middle ground between alternative and mainstream. Both Ritchie With a T and Stepa J Groggs never fail to deliver sharp and aggressive verses while Parker Corey absolutely kills it with the production. The group is known for its complete and utter bangers like “Eeny Meeny Miney Moe”, “Oh Shit!!!”, and “What’s Goodie”, as well as more dark and somber tracks like “Ttktv” (which was the first song I’d ever heard by them), “North Pole”, and more.
This new record, for the most part, satisfies all the cravings I had in terms of a new Injury Reserve project. It first opens with the skeletal yet hard-hitting “Koruna & Lime”, and furthermore launches you through a whirlwind of tracks that both pummel you with their abrasive sound or have you in deep contemplation with slower, more personal material. The bars on this record are as clean as ever, and the subject matters cut like a knife on quite a few tracks. On the more surface-level end of the spectrum, the band mocks things like superficiality and materialism, like on “Jawbreaker” featuring Rico Nasty and Pro Teens, where they poke fun at Instagram “influencers” and warn their listeners to not fall victim to trends just to fit in. Even on “Jailbreak the Tesla”, they play around with the idea of technology becoming so advanced but unreliable in the sense that an electronic car could be hacked just like an iPhone. They even take a jab at the formulaic, routine construction of rap songs in this day in age on “Rap Song Tutorial,” which people have been knocking for its lack of replayability, but it’s actually by far one of my most played songs from this album so far. The beat is just toooo good.
On the darker end of things, on songs like “Best Spot in the House”, Ritchie raps about his shame in not being able to find the courage to attend a friend’s funeral, and thus not knowing how to react when fans look up to him, praise him for saving their lives, etc. On “New Hawaii”, he raps about the unfamiliar feeling of being in love and having that love reciprocated, and hoping that his future kids will get more of the qualities of his significant other than his own. It is tough to ignore the blatant vulnerability and guts it took to talk about some of these things. The album as a whole exudes a cohesive, overarching message of staying true to oneself and being as authentic as possible in whatever you choose to pursue in life. In the path of fame that these guys have found themselves in, they have to remind themselves and those looking to be in their position to never compromise who they are for attention and a quick buck.
As far as features go, I will say I’m a bit disappointed with JPEGMAFIA on “GTFU,” which I literally freaked out about when I first saw, but it’s pretty clear that they didn’t utilize Peggy’s strengths very much on the track. Rico Nasty on “Jawbreaker” was pretty dope, though, mostly because I didn’t get annoyed with her voice like I typically do (lol). Freddie Gibbs also has a sick verse on “Wax On”, one of the catchiest songs on the whole album. DRAM’s verse on “New Hawaii” literally hit me straight in my feels when I first heard it, I’m not even gonna lie (“you say you love me, too, but bitch act like it sometimes”… felt). I’m also a little underwhelmed by the interlude tracks on this, like “QWERTY Interlude” and “Hello?!”, which I thought sounded super cool and enticing but just ended way too soon. I wish they’d developed these tracks into something more or maybe added these ideas into other songs on the track list somehow.
Even having identified the few things I wish could’ve been done differently on this record, the album as a whole definitely displays Injury Reserve at their best. They exhibit their same experimentation, versatility, noisy and gritty sound and perfectly fuse it with catchy and accessible beats to form a unique and unforgettable product. I feel like you’d be playing a sort of Russian roulette if you were to play them at a party or something — you can’t really be sure of the kind of reactions you’d get. Regardless, I’m pretty hyped about this project, and I really feel like the band delivered some of their best material on it, as well as discussed a wide range of important and vulnerable topics that personally resonated heavily with me. I’m of course looking forward to seeing what else they’ve got in store for them, and even having known them for so long now, I feel like they’re just getting started.
8.5/10 (oh p.s. I’m gonna start actually rating albums out of 10 now lol, I shoulda done that from the very beginning but it’s honestly just hard for me to pin a number onto an album that I have a lot of thoughts about. We gonna try it out tho!)
Favorite Tracks: Koruna & Lime, Jailbreak the Tesla, Gravy n’ Biscuits, Rap Song Tutorial, Wax On, New Hawaii
Least Favorite Track: GTFU (sadly) 
SOME THOUGHTS ON SOUNDS 
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