Whereas Machine Gun Kelly has earned fairly a level of success within the pop-punk world lately, he desires it recognized that he is nonetheless a rapper and that he by no means “departed from rap.” The subject got here up throughout a latest interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the place MGK stopped down the dialogue to make his clarification.
Through the course of the dialogue, the interviewer referred to Machine Gun Kelly’s “departure from rap heading towards pop-punk,” which led the musician to interject. “I received to cease you. I by no means ‘departed’ from rap,” he defined.
He then added, “I’m gifted as fuck and I added on to my catalogue of 4 nice rap albums. So what I did was I added on – by no means departed, left or switched. As a result of in the identical yr I used to be the most-viewed YouTube video putter-outer with all rap, which was my lockdown periods, which gained extra views than nearly any of my different movies. And it was a whole lot of thousands and thousands of views of me rapping.”
MGK then confirmed some disdain for the thought from media retailers that he ever left the rap world the place his profession began out, including, “So after they say ‘departed’ or after they say, ‘Oh, man, you switched’. Motherfucker, are you dumb?! Since you motherfuckers aren’t even listening to what the fuck they even must say for them to even care to say something deep sufficient as a result of they don’t even belief that you simply’re going to dive deep sufficient to know what you’re saying.”
He then shared how that clarification of the trajectory of his profession has made him really feel, stating that he stopped doing interviews for a interval as a result of he received uninterested in the angle being portrayed. “I’ve simply sat there and heard this, ‘Oh, he departed, oh, he switched, oh, he’ – Have you learnt how lengthy? How a lot that kills me every single day?”
Issues took a big shift for Machine Gun Kelly when his Tickets to My Downfall album got here out. The rapper paired with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker on the file, which turned an enormous launch with a string of pop-punk hits together with “Bloody Valentine,” “Live performance for Aliens” and “My Ex’s Finest Pal.” The album turned MGK’s first chart-topping file and have become one of many largest rock releases of the yr.
Earlier this yr, Kelly took a while to replicate on his pop-punk success during the last couple of years, stating, “I do know it kills sure bands in that group that I received the success that I received, however I earned that shit.” He then alluded to his success not being an in a single day success, stating, “Dude, I used to be fucking loading up the van with our drums and amps in 2010, driving to Indiana and Chicago, taking part in Warped Tour. I can inform you the fucking Wi-Fi codes to venues in Blackfoot, Idaho. Are you able to say that shit as a band?”
After the success of Tickets to My Downfall, Machine Gun Kelly launched Mainstream Sellout earlier this yr, with the file being a extra well-rounded illustration that pulled from each pop-punk and his rap aspect and a big selection of collaborators together with Willow, Deliver Me the Horizon, Lil’ Wayne, Gunna and Younger Thug amongst others.
Again in April, Machine Gun Kelly additionally declared that he was going to pursue a rap album subsequent following the success of Mainstream Sellout. “I’m going to make a rap album for myself. For no different purpose, no level to show, no chip on my shoulder,” he defined. “If I hold doing issues to show issues to individuals, I’m going to, one, drive myself loopy and, two, not make a superb product.”
He added, “I made Tickets and Mainstream Sellout as a result of I needed to make them. I have to now additionally make individuals miss that sound as a result of Tickets and Mainstream Sellout are companion albums, I do not assume making a 3rd that is so [sonically aligned with the last two albums] goes to be thrilling except it is missed.”
Additional divulging his plan for the subsequent album, he acknowledged, “I’m going to do that tour and I’m gonna step into the place I left [off with 2019’s] Lodge Diablo and increase on my storytelling as a rapper and discover a new revolutionary sound for the hip-hop Machine Gun Kelly. That’s the place my pleasure is and the place me as a music archaeologist desires to discover.”
