MGK vs. Eminem: The Battle of Rap Deities
Hip-Hop is competitive at heart. Most rappers and MC's have had at least one worthwhile beef that has marked their career. I could go and make a list on the best battles of all-time or how every single confrontation either helped or hurt the culture. But I'm here for a different battle: one that only happens once every ten years. The old school's Kool Moe Dee versus young gun LL Cool J. Or the incomparable KRS-One vs the up-and-coming Nelly. Need I remind you of the classic Lil Kim vs the fiery Nicki Minaj? It's the battle of generations that has been a mainstay of the game ever since it went commercial. Today has Machine Gun Kelly and Eminem going at it.
When it comes to the new-school, you've got Cleveland born mainstay Machine Gun Kelly to your right. A very strong lyricist, he has three great projects, those being Half-Naked and Almost Famous, Lace Up & General Admission. To add to his resume, he has a plethora of Billboard songs such 'Invincible', 'Wild Boy' and 'Bad Things' to put under his belt. His problem with Eminem comes from Slim supposedly blacklisting him from some major radio and broadcasting executives for having tweeted that Eminem's daughter Hailey was hot back in 2012 when he was 22 and she was 16. He'd fire the first shots on Tech N9ne's 'No Reason (The Mosh Pit Song)', in which he'd say:
To remind y'all you just rap and not God
And I don't care who got bars
The very simple line is a clear subliminal to Slim Shady, who in 2013 had released a song titled 'Rap God'. Kelly wouldn't bring up the subject until 2018 - which I'll get to later -, responding to Eminem on his own diss track, appropriately titled 'Rap Devil'. In it, he would have scathing lines about how Eminem was old, that Eminem had stifled his career and that MGK was a younger and better version of Eminem. There were considerable hits including "The big bad bully of the rap game can't take a f*****' joke", "Knees weak of old age, the real Slim Shady can't stand up!" as well as "Already f***** one rapper's girl this week; Don't make me call Kim".
Representing the classics, to your left, is the fifteen-time grammy winner with a career that spans three decades: Eminem. Through his entire career, the world has seen him take shots at anybody and everybody, from his mother to Britney Spears, leaving the careers of the likes of Benzino, Ja Rule and Canibus in smoldering heaps. Some kids have said that his flow is monotone and that he should quit now. The new generation doesn't see it how he sees it, whether it comes to his career or this beef. His plight is simple: he says that he never tried to stop Machine Gun Kelly's career and doesn't care about the Hailie tweet. His problem comes from MGK saying stuff about him that aren't true, such as Eminem attempting to make Diddy drop him from Bad Boys. The first shots were off of 'Not Alike', a track featuring Royce da 5'9 off of his Kamikaze project:
Oh, you run the streets, huh?
Now you wanna come and f*** with me, huh?
This little c***-s*****, he must be feelin' himself
He wants to keep up his tough demeanor
So he does a feature, decides to team up with Nina
But next time you don't gotta use Tech N9ne
If you wanna come at me with a sub, Machine Gun
And I'm talkin' to you, but you already know who the f*** you are, Kelly
I don't use sublims and sure as f*** don't sneak-diss
But keep commenting on my daughter Hailie
After MGK released 'Rap Devil', Eminem responded with a heavy hitter of a song titled "Killshot". Some notable lines in the song include "Younger me? No, you're the whack me, it's funny but so true; I'd rather be 80-year-old me than 20-year-old you", 'You would suck a dick to fuckin' be me for a second' and "'Cause he knows long as I'm Shady, he's gon' have to live in my shadow"
My own opinion on the beef is pretty simple: it's a misunderstanding that could easily be hashed out in a five minute conversation. But pettiness will continue because people won't get over their pride. I won't complain though because being petty brings out the best in rappers. While I like the beat and the terrific vibe of 'Rap Devil', I have to take this beef and give it to Eminem because of a specific bar:
Killshot, I will not fail, I'm with the Doc still; But this idiot's boss pops pills and tells him he's got skills;
But, Kells, the day you put out a hit's the day Diddy admits; That he put the hit out that got Pac killed
The bar is ruthless and insinuates a lot. The track is good in its own right, but this is a knockout punch if I've ever seen one. If I was Machine Gun Kelly, I'd run to the hills. While other people, such as The Playmaker, who said that MGK should run and make a new album and another diss song to capitalize on this beef. Either way, I don't think that this entire beef was a good idea, because no one should poke a sleeping bear.