Any album that starts with a question ‘Why you tryna be Candace Owens’ immediately has my attention. pretty ghetto’s debut album just feels like listening to your homies sit around a circle talking sh*t, spitting bars, all while gliding over effortlessly smooth production. It’s about the highs and lows, about freedom and reflection, and a whole mixture of feelings. The first half of the album in particular is all about energy, a more hyperactive and upbeat flurry of flows and beats that are filled with fun. But in the second half, ie after a small interlude, the tone switches to a come down. ‘INJURY NOGRACE’ is replete with a mixture of modern rap sounds, from the more jazzy trip hop to completely autotuned trap bangers. It’s a complete hip-hop album.
Completed while being on the verge of the end of a two year whirlwind relationship, INJURY NOGRACE does try to delve into all the extremes that you’d expect from those sensational highs and lows. Drawing from an assortment of influences in a more niche space of hip-hop, pretty ghetto’s style is distinctively marked by shades of an Mf DOOM, Gorillaz, or The Grouch and Eight. Much like his influences, ghetto loves to experiment with his sounds to the fullest. He relishes the opportunity to be creative, feeling that in that moment of discovery and innovation the whole world could fit in the palm of his hands. Like it has been for many others, hip-hop is his outlet, the ideal one to express every fleeting thought, emotion, and idea that he needs to vocalise.
The hip-hop eclecticism is on full display as you switch from track to track. SAVEYUHSELF is aggressive, in your face, and with a melodic chorus that immediately throws itself into another intense verse. But then, on literally the next track FULL AUTO, the vibe shifts to an entirely autotuned melodic trap banger. The two minute long lyrical displays of strength right before the interlude are also well worth their inclusion just for ghetto to showcase his flow switch capability. And that is undeniably ghetto’s strongest attribute — a night unending ability to continually shift flows and reinvent his sounds even within a single track. Having that asset allows his project to have moments or songs that are enjoyable to anyone with even a fleeting intrigue into hip-hop. To me, highlights come on some of the mellow pieces on the latter part of the album. L.M.M. and NOSAINT are standouts both for their production and for ghetto’s lyrical dexterity.
Definitely give INJURY NOGRACE a shout if you even have a fleeting interest in a particular subgenre of hip-hop, you’ll find a moment to relish in this wonderfully diverse piece of unfiltered rap music.