There are few things that are certain in this life. Death is one, taxes another - and the third? Feuds between famous rappers obviously!
Since the early days of rap, there has been one constant thing that sets it apart from other genres of music... the beef. Call these intense rivalries whatever you like, but there's nothing quite like two rappers laying down tracks which just straight up bash their enemies. Whether you grew up with Tupac and Biggie Smalls scrapping it out at awards ceremonies, or prefer Drake's brutal dissing of Meek Mill - rap shows no sign of slowing down when it comes to the famous art of the feud. So it's no surprise to hear that Eminem is the latest big-name lyricist to engage in rap's finest age-old tradition.
Eminem dropped his brand new album Kamikaze last week to great acclaim, and on it featured some pretty choice words about a fellow rap professional - Machine Gun Kelly. To give you some context, this beef goes back a way; in 2012 Machine Gun Kelly tweeted that Eminem's daughter Hailie was, "hot as f***" - which is fairly out of line considering she was a teenager back then.
Clearly Eminem isn't one to let bygones be bygones, because he dissed MGK on his track "Not Alike," rapping "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." Spicy lyrics, right?
Not one to take a diss lying down, MGK responded in double-quick time with his own track slating The Real Slim Shady called Rap Devil.
So where does that leave us? Well, Eminem is back, and he's not pulling any punches. I repeat, ANY punches. In a recent interview with Sway Calloway, Eminem revealed how he originally came across Machine Gun Kelly's pretty disgusting comment about his daughter.
"One day, you know, you go down a f***ing wormhole on YouTube or whatever.
"I see Machine Gun Kelly talks about Eminem's daughter or whatever. I’m like 'what the f***?' I click on it…he starts doing a press run, basically, about Hailie. I’m like 'what the f***? Yo, my man better chill.'"
The rap legend then went on to reveal the other reason he had for giving Machine Gun Kelly a rough ride on his new album - and he didn't hold back:
"The reason I dissed him is actually a lot more petty than that. The reason that I dissed him is because he got on—first he said 'I’m the greatest rapper alive since my favorite rapper banned me from Shade 45' or whatever he said, right? Like I’m trying to hinder his career. I don’t give a f*** about your career. You think I actually f***ing think about you? You know how many f***ing rappers are better than you? You’re not even in the f***ing conversation."
Somebody take MGK's shovel away please, because I think the poor guy has just gone and dug his own grave. This is another clear and obvious reminder that whatever you do, and whatever you want to say on your album, it's probably not a good idea to take aim at Eminem. Stay in your lane MGK, stay in your lane.