Tone Tank tried to be normal. He tried to live a normal life. He had moved from Brooklyn to sunny Phoenix, Arizona. He bought a house, moved in with his girlfriend and their two dogs, and there may have even been a fence of the picket variety. But the Gods of fate and the whim of the universe had other plans in store for young Tone. His girlfriend left him, he lost his job, and his house burned down, all in the span of a single month. So Tone calls up his old friend Krayo. Krayo tells Tone that this must be a sign from above. The Great-What-Have-You is telling you to return home to Brooklyn for you are too ILL and there is much art to be made. Kray was putting the final touches on Nuclear Family's debut EP “The New Singles” (2004 Ruffnoxious). Junk Science had started recording "Feeding Einstein" (2005 Embedded). After failing miserably at school and getting fired from his dead-end job that he didn’t even like, Kray found himself waking up each morning with desperation in his gut. That’s when Tone showed up with the U-Haul. They lived in an industrial building set up as a bunker-style compound. They moved in fellow Nuk Fam members Probe & Scott Thorough, along with two Pit Bulls, a Rottweiler, a palm tree, and a rotating cast of junkies, runaways, and roustabouts. They made an album. Tone and Kray that is. “Iller Than Theirs” was produced almost entirely by J. Howells Werthman, who oversaw the project and ran the studio. Snafu of Junk Science dropped by to contribute beats and get busy with the cuts. Scott Thorough came out of his room to donate beats and vocals. Cool Calm Pete casually strolled in, kicked the dogs of the couch, and kicked a few rhymes. Jah-C from The Project (Glow in the Dark Records) popped in with some piff from uptown. And at one point, Masta Ace even magically appeared (poof?). And through all of this, Kray & Tone Tank assembled their statement of being. ILLER THAN THEIRS is a reaction to all things bloated & phony, boring & corporate, fancy & fashioned, dead & robotic. It is a barroom-brawl of a record, honestly eccentric, wildly colored and just a little bit ILLER than the rest of y’all.