Injury reserve
| Injury reserve | |
|---|---|
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.png) Ritchie and Groggs in Toronto (2018) |
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| General information | |
| origin | Tempe , United States |
| Genre (s) | Alternative hip-hop , jazz-rap |
| founding | 2013 |
| Website | www.injuryreserve.online |
| Current occupation | |
| Ritchie With a T | |
| Parker Corey | |
| former members | |
rap |
Stepa J. Groggs († 2020) |
Injury Reserve is an American experimental hip hop group from Arizona . It consists of rapper Ritchie With a T and producer Parker Corey. A second rapper Jordan "Stepa J." Groggs died in June 2020. With mixtapes as Live from the Dentist Office and raft the trio earned a fan base in the Internet and published in 2019 his self-titled debut album.
Band history
Nathaniel "Nate" Ritchie aka Ritchie With a T moved his family to the greater Phoenix area , where his mother opened a van store. In 2012, the high school and enthusiastic rapper began working with Stepa J. Groggs, an employee of his mother, seven years his senior. With a view to founding a band, a friend recommended Ritchie the same age hobby producer Parker Corey, who joined the two rappers.
Since Phoenix does not have a hip-hop scene like other major US cities, Injury Reserves primarily used the Internet to gain recognition. They gained their first fans through the subreddit r / hiphopheads and SoundCloud . In addition, they occurred in the alternative scene of the city and at house parties in addition to punk bands and House - DJs on. There were gigs to be taken seriously , for example as an opener for Dilated Peoples . After their manager introduced them to the DIY scene in the Arizona State area , the trio released their first EP in 2014 under the title Cooler Colors .
Injury Reserve recorded their first mixtape Live from the Dentist Office in 2015 at Corey's grandfather's dental practice . The band presented itself more mature and jazzy than on their debut and was able to engage guest rappers like Chuck Inglish and Demi Hughes. The tape went unnoticed by the mainstream , but spread via word of mouth and earned the three of them critical praise for the first time. Also the successor Floss ( English for dental floss ) with the successful single Oh Shit !!! was created in the doctor's office and includes guest appearances by established artists such as Vic Mensa and Cakes da Killa.
In 2017 Injury Reserve moved to Los Angeles and did their first US tour the following summer with Ho99o9 and The Underachievers . With their independent, experimental sound they caught the attention of some record companies and finally signed - as the second hip-hop act after Denzel Curry - a contract with the independent label Loma Vista Recordings. In 2018 they headlined for the first time and were partially supported by JPEGMAFIA . In May 2019, Loma Vista released the band's first self-titled studio album , which featured guest appearances by Aminé , Freddie Gibbs and DRAM, among others .
Jordan Alexander "Stepa J." Groggs (born June 1, 1988) died on June 29, 2020 at the age of 32.
style
The music of Injury Reserve is assigned to the genres Alternative Hip-Hop and Jazz-Rap and is characterized by a high degree of experimentation. The versatile production, which is characterized by a certain “ DIY craziness”, ranges from a sharp trap to a dreamy chill wave . Complex described the music as "lively jazz hip-hop", which includes all imaginable genres - from punk to grime to EDM - and is also suitable as party music. On the second mixtape Floss , for example, K-pop and New Zealand war chants are sampled and more and more auto-tunes are used . Thus, despite reminiscences of Golden Age hip-hop, Injury Reserve succeeds in making their sound contemporary with artists such as A Tribe Called Quest and Black Sheep . All three members name Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as the greatest musical influence .
“Our biggest influencers are artists who make easily digestible music while pushing the boundaries of what that even is (...) Weird sounds that can also sound like pop songs. It's not like you have to 'understand' it. "
“Our biggest influences are artists who make music that is easy to digest and thereby expand the boundaries of what it is (...) Weird sounds that can sound just like pop songs. It's not like having to 'understand' it. "
In terms of text, the group deals with everyday problems such as drug addiction , but is also critical of the music industry and addresses issues such as racism . The lyrics are sometimes very personal. In Look Mama I Did It and Whatever Dude ("I been doing some stupid shit like going to work / When I could be doing some lucrative shit like writing a verse"), the bread-and-butter profession is thematized in a foot locker . Lines like “Yeah it's good to be on / On, yeah, I'm on the clock / Cause these raps haven't done shit but buy me a couple socks” (Yo) and “Remember mama told me that I need to get my act together / Ten years passed the only difference is I'm rapping better “ (Oh Shit !!!) treat insecurity and your own credibility. While Ritchie's rap style seems more sung and energetic, Stepa J. Groggs with his deeper, slightly rougher voice reminded of the gangsta rap of the 1990s.
Discography
Studio albums
- 2019: Injury Reserve
Mixtapes and EPs
- 2014: Cooler Colors
- 2015: Live from the Dentist Office
- 2016: raft
- 2017: Drive It Like It's Stolen
Videos
- 2015: Whatever Dude
- 2015: Everybody Knows
- 2015: ttktv
- 2015: Yo
- 2016: Oh Shit !!!
- 2016: All This Money
- 2017: North Pole (feat. Austin Feinstein)
- 2017: See You Sweat
- 2017: Boom (X3)
- 2019: Jawbreaker (feat. Rico Nasty & Pro Teens)
- 2019: Jailbreak the Tesla ( feat.Aine )
- 2019: Koruna & Lime
Guest Posts
- 2018: Campfire (Aminé feat. Injury Reserve)
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Injury Reserve at Allmusic (English)
- Injury Reserve at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Chris DeVille: Band To Watch: Injury Reserve. Stereogum, March 21, 2019, accessed July 15, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g Olivia Becker: Injury Reserve Are the Latest Weirdo Internet Rappers - But They're Actually Good. Complex, June 2, 2017, accessed July 15, 2019 .
- ↑ Chris DeVille: Jordan Groggs Of Injury Reserve Dead At 32. Stereogum, June 30, 2020, accessed July 7, 2020 .
- ^ A b Paul Simpson: Injury Reserve - Biography. Allmusic , accessed on July 15, 2019 .
- ↑ Conor Bond: A Beginner's Guide To Injury Reserve. January 19, 2018, accessed July 15, 2019 .