Jordan Groggs of Injury Reserve dies at 32
Stepa J. Groggs of Injury Reserve is dead at 32.
The rapper’s bandmates shared the news on social media, tweeting “REST IN POWER Jordan Alexander Groggs a loving father, life partner and friend. (6/ 1/1988-6/29/2020).” No cause of death has been released.
Groggs is survived by Anna Ford, his life partner, and their four children, Joey, Jayden, Toph and Ari.
A GoFundMe page started for the family says, “Groggs’s heart has touched everyone he has came across. He will live on through his family, supporters and the communities he was a part of.” By July 1 it had raised $65,000 of its $75,000 goal.
Among the fans whose hearts were touched by Groggs’ work with Injury Reserve was fellow Arizona rapper Raheem Jarbo, who performs as Mega Ran.
“We as a hip-hop community are a family,” Jarbo says. “Particularly in a scene as overlooked as Arizona’s, we all view any successes as a monumental occasion for the entire scene. Conversely, a tragedy is viewed the same way. We have lost one of our own, far too soon. My thoughts and prayers go out to Injury Reserve’s fans, friends and all the families affected by this tragic loss.”
Another member of the Valley hiphop scene, Damien Tragedy James, called Injury Reserve an inspiration, saying they were “one of the many acts that showed me it was possible to go bigger than the scene would allow.”
Formed in 2013, Injury Reserve first made a name for themselves with a selfreleased debut titled “Live From the Dentist Office.” Released in 2015, the album was named in honor of the fact that the tracks had been recorded in an actual Valley dentist office when producer Parker Corey’s grandpa was done seeing patients.
As they were ramping up to that release, a Phoenix New Times story ran under the headline “Injury Reserve Calls Itself the ‘Only Good Rap Act in Arizona.’”
That was Jarbo’s introduction to the group.
As he recalls, “I heard about Injury Reserve the way a lot of the Phoenix rap scene did: through a controversial newspaper article that called them the best rap act in AZ. I hadn’t even heard a song, but after the article, every act in the city instantly put them on the radar and not for the best reason.”
Still, he kept an open mind.
“I did my research,” he says. “I turned on one video, then another, then another. I was hooked on their creativity and style. Particularly I was drawn to Groggs’ voice and clever delivery.”
Anthony Fantano — “the internet’s busiest music nerd,” as he’s been known to call himself — hyped their “Dentist Office” mixtape on the Needle Drop as “a really cool modern spin on an old classic” and “one of the most impressive hip-hop debuts I’ve heard.”
The initially Tempe-based trio – which also featured MC Ritchie With a T – delivered on that promise with an even better second album, “Floss,” before a move to California in early 2017.
As Corey explained the move to The Republic at the time, “We started to hit that ceiling in Phoenix where the people that we needed to be talking to, the people we needed to set up meetings with, the industry, it just was not in Phoenix. And we were starting to maneuver our way through that so we had to be here.”
They ended up landing a deal with Loma Vista Recordings, a label whose roster includes St. Vincent, Iggy Pop and Common, releasing a self-titled album in May of 2019.
The Line of Best Fit had nothing but praise for that self-titled album, writing, “I can’t imagine there will be too many rap albums this year that better Injury Reserve’s debut. This is a band who can achieve the same volatility and straightup ingenuity of BROCKHAMPTON, on less than a quarter of the manpower.”
Sputnikmusik also loved it, citing Groggs’ and Ritchie’s “growing scepticism with modern hip-hop culture, and a heightened awareness of its pretensions” as one of the reasons for that.
Among the trio’s earlier performances was Alice Cooper’s Proof Is in the Pudding talent contest in 2014. Randy Spencer of Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers remembers it well.
“From the moment Injury Reserve performed at our annual music competition, I knew that they would go on to a national and global spotlight,” he says. “They were highly creative, entertaining and captivating to watch. I’m so sad and shocked to hear of Jordan Groggs’ passing.”
Jeff Schaer-Moses watched with interest as Groggs and his bandmates came up through the Phoenix scene, a rise whose early days he covered in that New Times story with the controversial headline. Since moving to Brooklyn, he’s seen that promise play out on the national stage.
“I loved Injury Reserve because they were the first group I really watched come up from literally house shows in Tempe and the Firehouse Gallery in Phoenix to selling out Gramercy Theater in Manhattan or playing the main stage at Governors Ball,” he says. “Every time I think about the fact that I will never embrace Groggs again after one of their increasingly stellar performances in New York City, my heart breaks as if I’m hearing the news for the first time.”