Experimental rap group Injury Reserve unleashed their debut album back in 2019, which combined the intense glitchiness of JPEGMAFIA, the brash lyricism of Rico Nasty, the cool demeanor of Freddie Gibbs, and the playful energy of Aminé—in fact the guest-heavy track list featured all four of those artists and more across its 13 tracks. Tragically it would also prove the Arizona outfit’s final album as a trio, with the news of emcee Stepa J. Groggs’ passing last summer.
With the reveal of IR’s first new music since then, of course, their new album By the Time I Get to Phoenix sees a dedication to Groggs on their Bandcamp page. “Typing here feels small in the space of your real physical absence but you, your voice and your words continue to echo around us all thru these recordings and so many others and everything else,” the page reads, “thank you for your time, we love and miss you, of course of course.”
The record adheres to Grogg’s vision of “making some weird shit,” as the first IG post from the IR account since the rapper’s death explains. The track list seems to confirm this, with the names black midi, Zelooperz, Sadpony, and Body Meat among the contributors. See more details on the project in the post below (you can already pre-order it here), and keep an eye out for the first single, which drops tomorrow.
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