Machine Gun Kelly and Eminem have made rap battles interesting again. With one music video Machine Gun Kelly launched his career to a level never achieved in his mediocre history as a somewhat known rapper. Shortly after its release, the Eminem dis track "Rap Devil." Went viral. Suddenly the moderately successful and not widely known rapper was trending and getting respect from people who had nothing for him before.
There were two reasons for the response. First, people don't go after Eminem. His unmatched skill and his devastating lyrical assaults scare off most rappers. The fact that MGK was willing to step up and challenge Slim Shady is impressive.
The other thing that makes Rap Devil noteworthy is that it's actually pretty good. musically, it's probably the best thing Kelly has produced, and lyrically he comes pretty hard at Em. Honestly, people were kind of surprised that MGK made himself relevant.
Of course right after Rap Devil went viral, everyone was anticipating Eminem's response. This response came in the form of the track "killshot" a direct response to Rap Devil, Shady turns the tables and effectively throws all of Kelly's grenades back at him.
The question though? Who came out on top? Let's analyze both.
MGK came out strong. Just the fact that he started trending is impressive considering that a week prior you could have asked 10 people and maybe one would have heard of him. Also, he didn't play a weak game. He went all in on Eminem in a way that few would attempt. His lyrics were biting and his video was dark and direct as it sent a message that he wasn't scared to take on the rap God Himself.
On the downside, with each listen, the "oh shit" factor slips a little more and is replaces with the realization that several of the lyrics really come off like a whiny child. The cutting edge to his statements about Eminem being irrelevant and not what he once was, is diminished by his clear jealousy and juvenile insults. He literally includes lyrics about being younger and taller than Eminem. "You're short" isn't exactly a brilliantly written dis. MGK does earn some points when he says "I got all of my shit without Dre producin' me." That is until you realize that it's more whining about the success of the person he is supposedly dissing. The real meat of this song is the presentation of Eminem as the rap bully trying to prevent young artists from getting exposure. He claims that Eminem blackballed him in the industry. He argues the case that artists are held down and their careers destroyed because of Em's ego. While there is an air of jealousy, this song does do some real damage to Shady's image.
Eminem fired back very quickly with KILLSHOT. everyone was waiting for this. We knew that Shady would stand up and release an epic response. For the most part, he did not disappoint. To be fair, the lyrics are not really that genius and fall into some basic adolescent insult territory. However, Em does respond to everything in Rap Devil and does an amazing job of dismantling almost every attack leveled by Kelly.
Where KILLSHOT really gets its strength is from the pure skill Eminem brings to the track. Slim and MGK can go back and forth all day about who did what, and who's a bitch, but in terms of skill, there is a clear difference. Kelly is nowhere near the level of Eminem's skill. If this was a live rap battle, it would be a landslide, especially considering Machine Gun Kelly's reliance on autotune, which Em also pointed out on KILLSHOT.
This track perfectly flipped the script of Rap Devil. While MGK was saying Shady is old news and Kelly is the voice of the future, Eminem portrays Kelly as a child, a wannabe looking up to dad and wishing he was as good. His straightforward delivery creates the sense of "I'm not mad, just disappointed." Essentially he's saying that Rap Devil was a tantrum and this kid needs to sit down.
so who won?
Machine Gun Kelly gets a lot of points for going hard on Eminem, and Killshot had some odd moments like the weird Diddy lines and abrupt ending. But listening to both tracks shows how clearly outmatched Kelly is in this fight. In the end, MGK threw a big punch with Rap Devil, but Eminem delivered the knockout with the superior KILLSHOT.
There were two reasons for the response. First, people don't go after Eminem. His unmatched skill and his devastating lyrical assaults scare off most rappers. The fact that MGK was willing to step up and challenge Slim Shady is impressive.
The other thing that makes Rap Devil noteworthy is that it's actually pretty good. musically, it's probably the best thing Kelly has produced, and lyrically he comes pretty hard at Em. Honestly, people were kind of surprised that MGK made himself relevant.
Of course right after Rap Devil went viral, everyone was anticipating Eminem's response. This response came in the form of the track "killshot" a direct response to Rap Devil, Shady turns the tables and effectively throws all of Kelly's grenades back at him.
The question though? Who came out on top? Let's analyze both.
MGK came out strong. Just the fact that he started trending is impressive considering that a week prior you could have asked 10 people and maybe one would have heard of him. Also, he didn't play a weak game. He went all in on Eminem in a way that few would attempt. His lyrics were biting and his video was dark and direct as it sent a message that he wasn't scared to take on the rap God Himself.
On the downside, with each listen, the "oh shit" factor slips a little more and is replaces with the realization that several of the lyrics really come off like a whiny child. The cutting edge to his statements about Eminem being irrelevant and not what he once was, is diminished by his clear jealousy and juvenile insults. He literally includes lyrics about being younger and taller than Eminem. "You're short" isn't exactly a brilliantly written dis. MGK does earn some points when he says "I got all of my shit without Dre producin' me." That is until you realize that it's more whining about the success of the person he is supposedly dissing. The real meat of this song is the presentation of Eminem as the rap bully trying to prevent young artists from getting exposure. He claims that Eminem blackballed him in the industry. He argues the case that artists are held down and their careers destroyed because of Em's ego. While there is an air of jealousy, this song does do some real damage to Shady's image.
Eminem fired back very quickly with KILLSHOT. everyone was waiting for this. We knew that Shady would stand up and release an epic response. For the most part, he did not disappoint. To be fair, the lyrics are not really that genius and fall into some basic adolescent insult territory. However, Em does respond to everything in Rap Devil and does an amazing job of dismantling almost every attack leveled by Kelly.
Where KILLSHOT really gets its strength is from the pure skill Eminem brings to the track. Slim and MGK can go back and forth all day about who did what, and who's a bitch, but in terms of skill, there is a clear difference. Kelly is nowhere near the level of Eminem's skill. If this was a live rap battle, it would be a landslide, especially considering Machine Gun Kelly's reliance on autotune, which Em also pointed out on KILLSHOT.
This track perfectly flipped the script of Rap Devil. While MGK was saying Shady is old news and Kelly is the voice of the future, Eminem portrays Kelly as a child, a wannabe looking up to dad and wishing he was as good. His straightforward delivery creates the sense of "I'm not mad, just disappointed." Essentially he's saying that Rap Devil was a tantrum and this kid needs to sit down.
so who won?
Machine Gun Kelly gets a lot of points for going hard on Eminem, and Killshot had some odd moments like the weird Diddy lines and abrupt ending. But listening to both tracks shows how clearly outmatched Kelly is in this fight. In the end, MGK threw a big punch with Rap Devil, but Eminem delivered the knockout with the superior KILLSHOT.
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