Quitting school in the middle of his final year, he returned to Tokyo, reunited with Ryo-Z and formed "Gibinibanko" (ギビニバンコ).

Ilmari returned to Finland in 2002 along with his group members and favourite camp counsellor, Andrew Busam, where they shot photos and footage for their shortcuts!

[1] Ilmari created the short-lived group Steady&Co in 2001 with BOTS and Kenji Furuya of Dragon Ash and SHIGEO of Skebo King.

Their aim was to create a much lighter folk influenced form of hip hop against emerging genres such as J-Urban.

In 2005, he was made leader of the unit Teriyaki Boyz consisting of fellow Rip Slyme rapper Ryo-Z, Nigo, Wise and Verbal of M-Flo.