Production was primarily handled by Charlie Heat, alongside HeyMicki, Vinylz, Jeia, Scotty Lavell Coleman, Poo Bear, and Sasha Sirota, among others.

[1] On October 31, 2021, Tiller released a mixtape, Killer Instinct 2: The Nightmare Before, on a private link that he texted to his fans using the community number he had made earlier in 2020.

The mixtape featured a variety of freestyles over current beats at the time, including Normani's "Wild Side", Brent Faiyaz's "Gravity" and Busta Rhymes' "New York Shit".

Writing for AllMusic, Andy Kellman described the project as a "coherent LP of contemporary R&B ballads full of sweet nothings, boasts, grievances, and ultimatums".

[11] Will Schube for HipHopDX wrote that Tiller "[relies] on the power of his voice" which allows him to "[recontextualize] the genre", however, at times he "grows complacent", resulting in several filler tracks.

[13] Bryson Tiller debuted at number twelve on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 39,000 album-equivalent units, (including 1,000 copies as pure album sales) in its first week.