Machine Gun Kelly says he never "departed from rap" in lieu of his career as a rock artist.
The Ohio rap-rocker swapped his well known hip hop sound for pop punk on his last two, guitar-orientated albums, 2020's Tickets To My Downfall and 2022's Mainstream Sellout, and has collaborated with a handful of rock artists such as Blink 182's Travis Barker, Avril Lavigne and Yungblud.
In spite of his newly established rock connections and recent guitar-driven releases, MGK - real name Colson Baker - is insistent that he never actually left rap behind, even though many listeners will tell you otherwise. Last year, Slipknot's Corey Taylor made comments aimed at MGK that inferred that he had jumped genres due to a lack of success, which kicked off a highly-publicised squabble between the pair.
“I hate everything. I hate all new rock for the most part. I [hate] the artists who failed in one genre and decided to go rock – and I think he knows who he is", Taylor told the Cutter’s Rockcast.
Now, in conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, when the interviewer notes that it was MGK's album Tickets that first saw his "departure from rap heading toward pop-punk", the musician answers: “I got to stop you. I never ‘departed’ from rap.”
He continues, “I’m talented as fuck and I added on to my catalogue of four great rap albums. So what I did was I added on – never departed, left or switched.
“Because in the same year I was the most-viewed YouTube video putter-outer with all rap, which was my lockdown sessions, which gained more views than almost any of my other videos. And it was hundreds of millions of views of me rapping.”
Then, taking aim at the media outlets that categorise his work in this way, he adds: "So when they say ‘departed’ or when they say, ‘Oh, man, you switched’. Motherfucker, are you dumb?!
“Because you motherfuckers aren’t even listening to what the fuck they even have to say for them to even care to say anything deep enough because they don’t even trust that you’re going to dive deep enough to know what you’re saying.”
MGK even goes on to say that he "stopped doing interviews" because of the issue. He explains, “I’ve just sat there and heard this, ‘Oh, he departed, oh, he switched, oh, he’ – Do you know how long? How much that kills me every day?”.
Earlier this year, the musician announced that he is "done with rock" now, and that his next album will see him return to his hip-hop roots.
