Illmac (formerly known as Illmaculate) earned his stripes in the Rap Battle circuit. Perhaps Illmac’s most notable accolade as a Battle Rapper was defeating three time defending champ, Pat Stay in King of the Dot’s “World Domination 5” competition.
While his career as Battle Rapper certainly helped to sculpt Illmac’s pen game, by his own admission, the confrontational culture of Battle Rapping caused him to go into recorded projects with his guard up. “It’s armor by omission in a way,” said Illmac, in August during an interview with Andrès Tardio. After a conversation with his girlfriend where Mac says “she called him out in a way,” the rap veteran decided to put more of his personal life into his 2020 output.
“It was something I knew, [but] I needed to hear it from an outside source, someone saying, ‘knowing you, I feel like you don’t put a lot of who you actually are into the music.’ and the music I put out is me. But I think there’s a lot of other elements I haven’t shared.”