Over the past year, I have been listening to the music of Pennsylvania underground hip-hop/horrorcore artist ILLtemper. Around since the early 2010s, his musical style has been a mix of mental health, psycho killer, and gross-out themes mixed with ’90s influences. Originally signed to Cult Muzic, he has since gone solo but has frequently collaborated with many of the label’s artists who I have discovered through his many guest appearances or collab projects.
One of his frequent collaborators is UK artist/producer Edd Bundy. Sometimes Bundy raps alongside ILLtemper while other times he just produces. The two have collaborated on a series of projects known as The “Self Pity” series, the latest of which “Self Pity Commitee” having dropped on January 23 and being preceded by one single last year, “Fuckless” featuring popular underground New Jersey MC and frequent collaborator Gibby Stites; Bundy just is on the beats for this one.
The album starts off with “Pit Tea”; after a long introductory quote from Stephen Fry about self-pity, Illtemper invites listeners to have some Pit Tea with him over an introspective while delivering good punchlines (“I’m a drug addict lookin’ for that crack like a chiropractor/World don’t got my back, painful as a spinal fracture is one of my favorites) infused with drug usage and nihilism. The following is one of my favorite set of bars from the song exemplifying the depression he feels.
Melancholy foldin’ you up like a lawn chair
Brain polluted, constantly have to fight the smog air
Life’s a shitty sitcom, I think the writer lost care
I’m gettin’ cut soon like a butch dyke with long hair
“Fuckless” with Gibby Stites gets more ruthless on the production with the duo declaring that they could not care less about life with Illtemper getting in his feelings and drug usage bag (“Sniffin’ glue, brain gets abused until it’s removed/’Cept for lime juice, cookin’ food for thought with that sticky goo”) while Gibby opts for his more brutal lyricism and punchlines (“I’m good at shippin’ merch, you could get packed in a box (Oh)/Legs in one, arms in other, broken bones fold like rubber/Matter of fact, you and your homie share a box, hold each other”). Look Around gets more chaotic on the production with frequent Chicago collaborator Fubar joining in for the ride while the two rap about the world going to Hell and them not caring the slightest bit, whereas “Go Hard” sees a more club-music vibe with Temper declaring he will do just as the title says like he’s leaving with a boner.
“Rude” with Absoulout Karnage describes the duo’s brutality and ruthlessness over an ominous horror beat while Fubar and fellow frequent collaborator L.E.O. (Love Equals Omnipotence) join up with ILLTemper for a lyrical onslaught on “Sour Grapes” going ultra-negative boasting about the grapevines starting to die.
“ICU” with frequent collaborators and wordsmiths Samuel Tafari from the UK and Donny G from Canada sees the three going after everybody who dislikes them for stuff on their faces over a more angry and rageful production while “Morning Wood” sees Comfortably Scum (ILLtemper x Diastro x Zak Meister) wondering why their dicks are so hard when they woke up over a menacing and villainous beats. Fubar teams up with ILLtemper once again for the more introspective and cynical “Wrong Rights” declaring that they have endured so much wrong they don’t care about what’s right and positive anymore. “Low Spirits” with Hi-Q closes out the album saying that they’d rather be drunk and depressed over a haunting beat.
Overall, Self Pity Committee sees ILLtemper with some of his sharpest and most brooding lyricism alongside Even Heathens with King Gordy and following up from his successful solo project Paxil Rose which dropped on Black Friday. Edd Bundy kills it on the production and all the features do their thing, with most of them being my first time transcribing on Genius. This was an amazing start for ILLtemper for 2026, and I can’t wait to see what ILLtemper does next this year.
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