Contributed by Chris Gaerig on 11/5/07

Being a white rapper is hard enough. Trying to make it as a white duo? You’d better have some serious chops. Being a group of white rappers, coming out of Brooklyn and not being named The Beastie Boys? Impossible, right? Not necessarily. New York troupe Iller Than Theirs (members Tone Tank and Krayo) craft a mass of old-school flows, nostalgic beats, and urban metaphors on their debut Iller Than Theirs. But it may just be what defines the group that ultimately throws them into the hoard of forgotten emcees and those that never quite made it.

Coming from what is commonly thought of as the cradle of hip hop life, Brooklyn, Iller Than Theirs is immediately thrown into a musical gauntlet. There’s a level of quality and a specific sound people expect to hear from the epic birthing ground of Biggie, Jay-Z, and Nas. And rather than try to downplay this pedagogy — something that would be rather easily accomplished as Tone Tank himself was born in Phoenix, Arizona — they seem to try and fit distinctly into it with fat bass drums, soulful horn samples, and sharply hollow snares. They do, however, take a more prudent route when discussing their ethnicity (something most white rappers try to showcase). It’s increasingly refreshing as Iller Than Theirs progresses not to hear Tone and Kray talk about how they have skills “even for white guys” as many similar emcees would do. They care about the music and it shows.

That said, the production and flows don’t quite hold up on their own. When they say, “We’re not saying that we’re better than anybody. We’re not better than nobody. We’re just iller, and there’s a difference” at the end of “To Be Ill,” it feels slightly contrived and pompous. “To Be Ill” stands as the album’s second track, and they haven’t yet shown us enough to say that they’re iller or better especially given the record’s opener “Razorbumps” is disjointed and unremarkable.

The album doesn’t really kick into gear until the subversive bassline and echoing horns of “Smorg” melt through your speakers. The emcees casual flows seem to coalesce with the soft-spoken beat, and when the scratching breakdown sears through the track’s end, you’re left wanting more. Fortunately, they deliver with “Girl Song” boasting jazzy piano lines and whistling synthesizers that create a groove Iller hadn’t yet and never again finds.

The real problem with this disc is that, against their cautioning, Iller Than Theirs truly believes they’re better than you. They’re not saying they’re better than other emcees — a bold claim their flows couldn’t quite uphold had they made it — rather, they seem to be convinced they’re better than you, the listener. With the aforementioned “To Be Ill” outro and the condescending “Good People,” it seems that Iller Than Theirs is riddled with self-aggrandizing dreams and an elevated self-worth. They’re certainly legitimate artists but will stop at nothing to let you know it.

But what else can a group that is so easily compared to artists like The Beastie Boys and other Brooklyn emcees possibly do? To match these legendary artists’ respective skills is far too daunting a task, but if they’re able to convince listeners that they’re something worth listening to — be it through their actual flows or this self-inflation — they ultimately are. They have the passion. They have the ideas. But they might not be ill enough to overcome the stigma.

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