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The Knux seemingly came out of nowhere. Raised by their single mother in the New Orleans East neighborhood the two brothers were initially not even particularly close. "I was like the nerd, into video games and stuff like that," says Al, "And Krispy was more like, popular and into hanging out and girls." True to their often cantankerous relationship, Krispy begs to differ. "Ah man, thats just how Al likes to say it, but that aint how it was," he says. "Al was always a cool mufucka, its just that we didnt fuck with each other like that." In fact, though they shared the same roof, and the same interest in marching band (where they honed their playing prowess), the two ran in different circles in high school. "Nas's second album was the first rap album that I really, really listened to," says Al, "But the album that brought us together was the second Gravediggaz album. I bought that tape and wed just sit around after school listening to it all afternoon."

Within a year of hanging out the two, who'd both been quietly writing rhymes, hooked up with an uncle who was a local producer and started making songs together. "We started off calling ourselves The Knuckle Heads and wed go over to his studio to make beats and songs," says Krispy.

Just as their recording came to a standstill the Knux were met with great misfortune: Hurricane Katrina. "We never evacuated when the hurricanes hit," says Krispy, "But for whatever reason when Katrina hit we left with our mom to go to Dallas for the weekend. When we were driving back to New Orleans on the Monday all the cars were going the other direction. The radio wasnt working, so we had no idea about the flood til someone flagged us down and told us that we werent gonna be allowed into the city." After a week of the entire family sleeping in their car, they relocated to Houston and found an apartment. "Man, we lost everything, our whole apartment building burned to the ground," says Krispy. "So we were grateful that everyone was okay, but we werent happy to be in Houston."

Fortunately things looked up for the group when their demo fell into the hands of Paul Rosenbergs A&R man Dart Parker, who brought the group to his attention. Over the next months Rosenberg signed on as their manager. "We werent doing anything in Houston," says Krispy. "Because of Katrina and how unhappy we were in that city we werent inspired to make anything new. So the whole thing with Paul was blessing."

By the fall of 2006 the brothers had moved to the Hollywood Hills and begun the recording process. "Once we got out to L.A. there was just such a different vibe," explains Al, A"nd we were going to all the downtown clubs with fuckin socialite girls and, like, the so-called hipsters, and guys like Steve Aoki. It was a totally different scene from what we were used to in New Orleans and the music we started making just reflected that." The two wrapped the album during the summer of 07 and hit the road hard. "We started by just inviting people over for house parties and performing the album on top of our couch," says Al, "Thats how we knew what worked and what didnt." After a string of successful events at L.A. cool-guy emporiums the two got added as the opening act of Commons Finding Forever tour.

With shows booked through the end of the year, and press clippings stacking up left and right—all without a single song available commercially—the ground swell is evident, and The Knux impact in 2008 is imminent. Act like you know. And if you forget, dont worry, The Knux will Remind You In 3 Days