Injury Reserve boasts one of the best hip-hop legacies in the 2010s and 2020s, and its duo offshoot By Storm is continuing that trailblazing creativity in even more unique ways. The rap community still misses key I.R. member Groggs dearly, and RiTchie and Parker Corey just offered their latest spellbinding single "In My Town."
This follows a three-track run of amazing single releases: "Double Trio" in 2023 and then "Zig Zag" and "Double Trio 2" earlier this year. In comparison to those efforts, By Storm's "In My Town" is a little more melancholy, tranquil, and abstract in its structure. RiTchie delivers pained but determined verses about old Shell gift cards, the pressures of touring, the incoming milestone of parenthood, and the things in his everyday life that hold him down.
On the other hand, Parker Corey's production here is some of his most calming and atmospheric yet, letting acoustic guitar plucks send ghostly vocal samples and hazy tones to the wind. Only some hi-hats and a dark perc provide percussion towards the end of the cut, and the whole structure of the beat is quite amorphous and transportive.
All in all, with this much quality, emotion, and idiosyncrasy from these By Storm singles, we can't wait to hear what's next. Given past RiTchie projects like Quiet Warp Xpress with FearDorian and Triple Digits [112], whatever this duo offers in a long-form sense will likely stun us all. These tracks sneak up on you like nothing else in hip-hop today, and it's a very refreshing experience.
By Storm - "In My Town"
Quotable Lyrics
Them Shell gift cards would hit hard now,
Getting a hell of a lot harder to hold the line down,
Not just two Clif bars, n***a, a large amount,
For the moms and pops, it's getting hard now
