milk crate

At this point in their career, By Storm, composed of rapper RiTchie with a T and producer Parker Corey — both formerly of the group Injury Reserve — are a duo defined almost as much by the mythology surrounding their music as the music itself. Since the 2021 release of Injury Reserve’s earth shattering By The Time I Get to Phoenix and the group’s subsequent dissolution/reformation into By Storm, it’s become common practice to wax poetic about their music’s innate connection to grief, about how the sporadic, confrontational sound of that final record so effectively embodied the devastation of post-mortem anguish like little hip-hop before it ever could — and that’s not denying that By The Time I Get to Phoenix was anything but an album about grief. 

The album is inverting in on itself, track to track. It is a warning for those who take themselves too seriously to loosen up, and a reminder to pay close attention. A lot has changed between album releases for Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye. He became the father of three kids. Became a partner to long-time collaborator, Rihanna. Was the face of many campaigns from Ray-Ban to Dior. Safe to say he has secured himself even more so from where we left off in his Discography. Don’t Be Dumb has its lesson in the name; it’s up to its listeners to take it into account.