May was slightly underwhelming. The Beast Coast finally came together after all of these years, but are so far removed from their original New York sound that it was destined to be a disappointment. Tyler, the Creator confused me with his muddy, sometimes barren 5th album IGOR, which despite being very well received still has me scratching my head. And Logic... holy heaping dog-shit what an awful album. He’s now at least three albums removed from a good project, and at this point I have no faith he’ll ever find his way. Bandana is the only thing I can see on the horizon in June, so I’m buckling up for a dry month.
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Injury Reserve - Injury Reserve
I have three albums for you, and the first is the eponymous debut studio album from Arizona based trio Injury Reserve. I’ll be honestly and say I’ve never listened to Live from the Dentist Office, their first mixtape, but Floss from a couple years ago was in constant rotation, with Oh Shit!!, All This Money, and Bad Boys 3 being some of my favorite tracks ever. Injury Reserve as an album embraces the groups more abstract and experimental tendencies, containing a wide variety of sounds ranging from abrasive noise (GTFU & Jailbreak the Tesla), to kooky (Koruna & Lime, Jawbreaker, Gravy N’ Biscuits), to seriously smooth (New Hawaii & Three Man Weave). The star of this show for me is undoubtly Parker Corey, the production arm of Injury Reserve, who consistently wowed me with some incredible beats; Wax On is my beat of the year so far, feeling like time stretching and compressing, and Three Man Weave with its stupendous use of saxophone. The rapping is serviceable, with Ritchie and Groggs never having had been the best rappers to begin with, but are still humorous and at times deeply personal. Truly my only issue with this record are the three skits/interludes that appear, with the first and third being utterly pointless, and the Rap Song Tutorial being a good idea but ultimately becomes a chore upon repeat listens.
Here’s the Spotify to listen to Injury Reserve:
https://open.spotify.com/album/5UWKsRDw3O4BsobmeyRpB9
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Denzel Curry - ZUU
Next, Denzel Curry is back merely a year after releasing TA13OO with a sampling of speaker-shredding south-Florida madness in his newest project ZUU. There’s only a handful of new songs on here, only 20 minutes of new material, with RICKY and SPEEDBOAT having been singles (and fire), but these new songs make a massive impact. ZUU and WISH are catchy and melodic, AUTOMATIC is smooth trap, CAROLMART & SHAKE 88 are throwback party anthems, but BIRDZ with Rick Ross and P.A.T are earth-shattering bangers, with insane energy and distorted adlibs that just demand hype. The little skits and detours all add to the album, and I was crying laughing at YOO the first time I heard it. In a lot of ways this album reminds me of Vince Staples’ last album FM!, a small collection of mindless tracks that feels like I’m at listening party experiencing all of the hype firsthand. This album is the new Florida sound to a T, and Denzel keeps setting the bar higher and higher with each release.
Here’s the Spotify to listen to ZUU:
https://open.spotify.com/album/6PkSBdx19zarn4ae1D08gA
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Young Nudy & Pi’erre Bourne - Sli’merre
Lastly, we have Sli’merre, a collaboration between Atlanta rapper Young Nudy and star producer Pi’erre Bourne. These two go way back, with the majority of the Nudy’s Slimeball mixtape series comprising of Pi’erre beats. Pi’erre has since blown up, with rappers like Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, and 6IX9INE dipping their fingers into his in-demand sound. Nudy hasn’t yet blown outside of Atlanta, but Sli’merre might change that, as it serves as not only as the best set of collaborations between the two artists, but also as Nudy’s best project to date. I’ll be straight: Nudy’s style isn’t for everyone. He basically just freestyles in the booth with mixed results, but his charisma and strange delivery find a perfect fit on these charismatic and strange beats. Despite all that, the balance tips decisively towards Bourne, for while Pi’erre comes with a spread of different moods and wacky beats, Nudy remains almost identical on every track. I would say if you are a fan of Playboi Carti, Gucci Mane, and even 21 Savage to an extent, then you can find something to love here.
Here’s the Spotify to listen to Sli’merre:
https://open.spotify.com/album/2jLwYNAND8VQYD3YFhtujW
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And that’s all folks. If the new Freddie Gibbs and Madlib LP isn’t here by the next monthly post I might go ballistic, so be prepared for this.
