MGK’s Net Worth May Surprise You

Amanda Stewart
Sep 4, 2018 · 3 min read

Machine Gun Kelly, also known as MGK, has entered the rap battle of the decade with Marshall Mathers (Eminem). Although MGK hasn’t been around for as long, he has been able to hold his own with the vetted rapper. How does MGK’s net worth compare to the wealth of Eminem and other rappers?

About Machine Gun Kelly

Born Richard Colson Baker, MGK grew up with two missionaries as parents. He and his family moved around the world during his childhood until his parents divorced and he and his father moved to Denver. Baker began listening to rap in the sixth grade after discovering artists like Ludacris, Eminem, and DMX. His home life, as you may imagine, was never stable. While he attended high school, his father enlisted in the army and moved to Kuwait, leaving him to live in his aunt’s basement.

That basement was where Baker began to experiment with drugs and recording music. He recorded his first amateur mixtape, “Stamp of Approval,” there. Eventually, Baker stopped going to school, and his father returned to take him back to Kuwait with him. The pair ultimately wound up living in Cleveland where Baker finished his education.

During high school in Cleveland, he was able to convince a local t-shirt shop owner to become his manager. The shop owner doubled as an MC manager for Baker. When he started rapping, people were thrown by his rapid-fire delivery. This is where he got his name Machine Gun Kelly from his very first fans. After gaining some popularity locally, he released Stamp of Approval in 2006, allowing him to begin performing at local venues.

Just three years later he was on the verge of getting evicted. He decided to travel to Harlem’s Apollo Theater to perform. There MGK had consecutive victories, making him the first rapper to win at the Apollo.

It wasn’t until he was featured on MTV2’s Sucker Free Freestyle that MGK had significant exposure. On the program, he freestyled verses from his single Chip off the Block. Then, in 2010, he released his second mixtape 100 Words and Running. Although his popularity was on the rise, MGK was working at Chipotle to pay his bills. After his father kicked him out, he moved into the basement of his manager’s mother and soon became a father. During this time, he wrote and recorded a large portion of his first album.

By May of 2010, he was making his national debut with the single Alice in Wonderland. This single earned him recognition as the “Best Midwest Artist” at the 2010 Underground Music Awards as well as “Best Music Video” at the 2010 Ohio Hip-Hop Awards.

In March 2011, he got the biggest break of all: MGK signed with Bad Boy Records. After signing with them, he released his music video for Wild Boy, his most popular single. The rest, as they say, is history. MGK has since released numerous albums and mixtapes, many of which were featured on the Billboard Top 100.


Continue reading about MGK’s net worth on plungedindebt.com.

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