Review Summary: Back when they didn't reserve injuries.
Ever since I heard about Injury Reserve roughly 5 months ago when they released By The Time I Get To Phoenix, I’ve been hooked. With the combined power of the chemistry between emcees Ritchie with a T and Stepa Groggs (god rest his soul) and producer Parker Corey’s extremely inventive and rewarding beats, it shouldn’t be any surprise that I’ve bumped their whole discography multiple times - or, at least, I’ve bumped all that’s available on Spotify multiple times. It was only recently that I branched out to their more niche material - that Stockholm 2019 performance and all that jazz, that jazz including this cute little extended play right here. The most practical way for me to listen to this project was to download it through MediaFire, and what do you know, it’s definitely 50 megabytes on my computer.
I wasn’t blown away by this sucker, which is to be expected from earlier stuff in regards to literally any artist. But with Cooler Colors, it’s especially frustrating to listen to, not because it’s terrible or anything, but because it’s obvious that Injury Reserve’s future efforts - especially this EP’s immediate followup, 2015’s Live from the Dentist Office - share a lot of the same ideas as Cooler Colors, the drawback being that on this project, those ideas are hella underdeveloped or aren’t used as often as they should be. And again, that makes sense given when this thing came out, but that still doesn’t make it that great of a listen.
Ritchie and Groggs’ rapping was the first thing I noticed. The energy that they bring on this sack of tracks is, in a word, lacking. In the ins and outs of these verses, they can still get a message across, but they just don’t have the same excitement as they would on future releases. With this lack of energy also comes a lack of chemistry. The latter might also be due to there not being many lines that reference who’s on the mic or what Injury Reserve is standing for, but energy plays a role, too, and without it, every track sounds like one of them is nothing more than a featured artist.
To clarify, I think the reason why Ritchie and/or Groggs talking about their own lives and their group and whatnot is important when building chemistry because it unifies the two emcees. When both of them spit verses about “making it one day,” it feels like they’re in this music business together, and I love that. That isn’t seen on Cooler Colors very much.
To elaborate a little more on the writing side of things, there’s still some pretty fantastic moments here - the verse Groggs has about his mother on “Last Vowel” is probably my favorite moment on the entire EP. It hits just as hard as his emotional bits would in the future. Ritchie’s verse about being himself and growing on “Groundhog Day” is pretty great as well. I can’t really complain much about a lot of the writing on this record, because while it’s not as fleshed out as it would become in the future, we’re still getting solid bars here.
I have to say, though, the hook game on this record is a bit weak. Looking at the crop of choruses on Live from the Dentist Office gives you an idea of what makes them work.
Yo! Yo! Yo! Yo!
its whatever dude…its whatever dude
All the kids like wow, wow, wow
The old n***as like wow, wow, wow
The college girls like wow, wow, wow
I got the city like wow, wow, wow
Yeah, the song’s called 45,
So
You TIME TO KILL THE VIIIIIIIIIBE
Should
Play He said,
It she said,
Back
That everybody knows.
Many
Times. i’ll still be falling for you
They’re to the point. They’re repetitive (a good thing). And I’m not saying Cooler Colors does none of this - in fact, one of my favorite moments on the entire record comes from the straightforward hook on “Black Sheep.” It’s also worth mentioning that the chorus on the closer, “How Bout You,” sounds like an early version of the chorus used on “Wow” from LFTDO (see above), a hook I really like. But not enough of these choruses are all too grabbing, and occasionally are very forgettable. The refrain on “Curtains Close” is TOO simple - it doesn’t add anything to the track. It feels like it’s just stalling for time. The chorus on “Something Ta Ride To” could have come out better if a little more heart was put into it, too.
Speaking of this track, the production was probably my favorite part of Cooler Colors. “Something Ta Ride To” has a wicked nasty bassline that I was almost considering using in the summary before deciding to make an even lamer joke. “Black Sheep” has a crazy beat switch in the second half that keeps changing speeds and makes for a surprising fitting outro to the track. I like the fruitiness of the beat on “Groundhog Day” a hell of a lot as well. The only thing that I wish a little more time was put into were the inclusions of outside recordings - as an example, the whole closing bit of the EP where smashing sounds are heard, followed by a man simply stating “I just killed your f***in’ radio.” It’s a very out-of-pocket inclusion - Injury Reserve could probably do better at this today. This AND the transition that eats up the tail end of “Curtains Close” feel like shoe-ins more than anything, and ultimately don’t add much to the overall listening experience.
Considering the fellow user reviews of this album were mostly positive, I was hoping Cooler Colors would hold up better than it did. Sadly, this is 20 minutes that is plagued with worse iterations of ideas that Injury Reserve would return to. Not even that they’re bad - there’s plenty of good moments on this record, and truth be told, I’ve sounded very negative in this review. I would hesitate to call this a bad project - it’s just hella mediocre, and being an old project from a band that has released amazing music in more recent times, it makes perfect sense. Nonetheless, I likely won’t be returning to Cooler Colors, even if the call of that duh nuh doo-dum dum bassline becomes the soundtrack of my dreams. I’ll be hearing it enough at that point.
2.5/5
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: BLACK SHEEP, LAST VOWEL
NOT RECOMMENDED TRACK: CURTAINS CLOSE
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