ILLtemper is a 36 year old MC from Trevose, Pennsylvania establishing himself for over a decade within the underground wicked shit scene by releasing a total of 8 EPs & 10 full-lengths. He’s also notable for being 1/2 of the Even Heathens with King Gordy, who also make up 2/5 of the Wic Kids. For his 11th album however, it marks his debut for Lyrikal Snuff Productionz only a few months after the Heathens made their LSP debut with Handful of Cancel & had me hoping it would become an important statement amongst the rest of his solo output.
After the “INTROvert” intro, the 1st song “Stayed the Same” produced by J Reno somberly begins talking about being a lost one who was never found whereas the title track compares himself to Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose except he’s taking antidepressants. “The Used” by the Even Heathens hops over a bluesy boom bap instrumental talking about not ruining other people because you’re a cunt leading into “Pitch Blackness” admits to feeling like everything’s darkening around him.
Stir Crazy jumps behind the boards for the rock/boom bap crossover “Felt” taking a more heartfelt approach to the songwriting telling anyone who thinks he’s stronger than this would be sorely mistaken while “Losers” featuring Jakprogresso talks about always being failures swapping the guitars out for pianos. “Games” brings these Atari-like synthesizers with kicks & snares suggesting that Mario should stop saving the Princess while “Ain’t Right” advises to think twice prior to taking your own life.
“Unease” featuring Killator comes out the gate with a rock sample panicking like they’re looking at the current state of the stock market while “Nice Guy” talks about the nicest people dying alone over another rock/boom bap fusion. “Orange Bottles” heads for a summery trap direction talking about taking paxil anymore & after “In Your Eyes” suggests he should play hardball, “Dear Ronnie” finishes with a tearjerking open letter to himself.
It’s not something that I’ve publicly disclosed, but I personally have been taking Paxil ever since I was in grade school & hearing ILLtemper making a whole entire body of work dedicated to his experiences with it whilst likening himself as a rockstar makes his Lyrikal Snuff Productionz debut arguably the greatest solo effort of his entire discography. The production maintains the consistency of Handful of Cancel & ILLtemper conceptually takes us all on a trip into the world of mental health medications.
Score: 8/10