This is My Years Through My Ears, a series about influential songs that have shaped influential lives. Each guest breaks down the soundtrack to their life story, picking the most personally impactful songs to represent each chapter along the way.

My name is Andres Tardio and today’s guest is Illmac. He started his career as a battle rapper and as a musician. That’s how I got to know him. And lately, it’s been cool to watch him step into the animation world with his Rap Off series - you’ve probably seen those clips go viral - and by jumping into the intersection of music and NFTs.

I sat down with Illmac to talk about his life story through the music that he loves most. Like I do with every guest, I asked him to pick two songs to represent every chapter of his life and then we broke it all down. We talked about everything from childhood to Scribble Jam to this newfound success and everything in between. And we did it all through the music that shaped him.

Pre-Teens

1. Run-DMC — “You Talk Too Much”

2. 2Pac — “Me Against the World”

Teens

3. DMX — “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem”

4. Eminem — “Rock Bottom”

Twenties

5. Lil Wayne — “Hustler Musik”

6. Kendrick Lamar— “Cut You Off”

Thirties

7. Lil Wayne — “Glory”

8. Mac Miller — “Come Back to Earth”