The reason why Machine Gun Kelly was “scared” to listen to Eminem’s album
Machine Gun Kelly has his tail between his legs when it comes to Eminem.
In a 2014 interview, a baby-faced, less-tattooed Machine Gun Kelly talked about the rapper as someone he looked up to. “In high school and middle school, I had an Eminem poster on my wall”, he said.
At the time, Eminem’s eighth studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 had come out, and Machine Gun Kelly was asked if he was going to listen to it. His response was: “I’m still scared to listen to it. I’m scared to listen to it because that’s my idol, you know what I’m sayin’, that’s my idol”.
He elaborated. “Have I listened to it? No. Am I scared to listen to it? Yes. Do I wanna listen to it? Dude, I wanted to listen to it the second I heard he was recording it. But I’m scared to make that step”.
MGK explained that part of the fear was around what he was going to hear. Wrapping up his status on hearing Em’s album, MGK said, “Of course I’ma love anything he does, you know what I’m sayin’? I would hope he’d be the same with me”. Famous last words there. Only two years earlier MGK had managed to really piss Eminem off.
It started in 2012 when Machine Gun Kelly tweeted Eminem’s daughter, Hailie, who was 16 at the time. The then 22-year-old rapper said she was “hot as fuck”. Unsurprisingly, Em reacted quickly and fiercely. He dissed MGK on his track ‘Not Alike’, making fun of his lyrics and tough guy image.
To the hip hop community’s surprise, MGK fought back with ‘Rap Devil’, a diss track that accused Eminem of asking Diddy to sabotage his career.
Speaking about the growing tension, Eminem told the media that MGK was barely on his radar. “I don’t give a fuck about your career. You think I actually fuckin’ think about you? You know how many fuckin’ rappers that are better than you? You’re not even in the f–kin’ conversation”.
Em went on to express that he wanted to destroy Machine Gun Kelly but didn’t want to promote his name. Eventually, Eminem released ‘Killshot’, attacking everything from MGK’s man bun to his commercial sales and even his ex-girlfriend. One line even goes “Die motherfucker like the last motherfucker saying Hailie in vain”.
MGK didn’t strike back with a song this time, and Eminem declared victory on his 2020 single ‘Unaccommodating’, where he rapped about being a god who had cleansed MGK of his sins.
With all that, it’s no wonder that Machine Gun Kelly struggled to listen to The Marshall Mathers LP 2. It was about more than the record – it marked a very public undoing at the hands of his idol.