Eminem and MGK’s feud? Let’s talk about it.
By Gabby Scanga ’21
Eminem is one of the best selling artist of the 2000s. Not only is he considered one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time, he has several major accomplishments to validate it.
In 2002, Eminem won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Lose Yourself,” making him the first rapper to receive this award. Along with that, he has acquired 15 Grammys throughout his career. He is noted as a “Rap Legend” to several people in the industry.
Recently, Eminem has brought up past drama with fellow rapper, Machine Gun Kelly.
Machine Gun Kelly, also known as MGK, is a well known American rapper from Cleveland, Ohio. He is open about his difficult past that involved bullying and drug addiction. In 2006, he released his first mixtape. Machine Gun Kelly has achieved mainstream success, having multiple songs reach the Billboard Hot 100. MGK has also been featured in several movies and television shows such as Ridiculousness, Catfish, and Beyond the Lights.
Six years ago, the “beef” between the two rappers began. In 2012, MGK tweeted about Eminem’s daughter, commenting provocatively about her appearance. Eminem did not take this lightly.
More recently, Eminem released his unannounced 10th studio album Kamikaze, which rekindled the feud between him and MGK. In his song, “Not Alike,” Eminem raps: “And I’m talkin’ to you, but you already know who you are, Kelly, I don’t use sublims and don’t sneak diss, but keep commenting on my daughter Hailie.” The track has caused controversy in the hip hop industry and continued the dispute with Machine Gun Kelly.
MGK responded to Eminem in several ways. On September 3, MGK released his song “Rap Devil.” This was a diss track completely about Eminem. Lyrics from this song make references towards Eminem’s clothing, career, daughter, personal life, and more. After the song was released, MGK tweeted: “I’m standing up for not just myself, but my generation. I’m doing the same shit you did back in ur [sic] day. Life is still real on my side, and I had to take time from the grind to defend myself from someone I called an idol.”
After MGK’s tweets and diss track, Eminem responded with the final diss track titled, “Killshot.” The song’s cover photo is a picture of MGK’s face circled by a target with an aim on it. On the track, Eminem raps: “How you gonna name yourself after a gun and have a man bun?” The song continues: “I’m 45 and I’m still outselling you, its funny but so true. I’d rather be 80 year old me than a 20 year old you.”
After the song’s release, MGK took to social media by posting photos on Instagram of himself on stage opening for Fall Out Boy. MGK was wearing a shirt with the Killshot image and posed for the photo by holding up his middle finger in the shape of guns with the entire audience following behind him. MGK also reacted again on Twitter by tweeting: “2 weeks and 3 interviews later… #legshot #letstalkaboutit.” The tweet not only contained a laughing and trashcan emoji, but also a photo with three judges holding up a 6 out of 10 score.
In an interview with radio show, The Breakfast Club, MGK explains that after he heard “Killshot,” he had another track ready to respond to Eminem but decided to hold off.
As the days go on, audiences seem to think that the feud is ending. Eminem explains that he was not fond over this confrontation. “And every time I do that,” Eminem said, “it makes that person — as ‘irrelevant’ as people say I am in hip-hop — I make them bigger by getting into this thing, where I’m like ‘I want to destroy him. But I also don’t want to make him bigger.’”
With both artists making these comments toward the drama, it leaves us to believe that it is finally over.
