Machine Gun Kelly said the criticism fueling his return to Hip-Hop is only making him hungrier to deliver the best rap album of his career.
Machine Gun Kelly is gearing up for a rap revival and says the noise around his genre switch is only pushing him to deliver the best album of his career.
The 35-year-old artist said he’s fully tuned in to the skepticism that trails his return to Hip-Hop after years of pop-punk experimentation. But instead of backing down, he’s doubling down.
“I’m aware of how loud that conversation will be when I drop it, which makes me hyper aware of how great it has to be,” he said. “If they choose to be loud about it, know that it makes me better. That makes me hungrier. And a hungry MGK is a dangerous MGK.”
MGK’s last rap-focused album, Bloom, dropped in 2017. Since then, he’s leaned heavily into rock, releasing Tickets to My Downfall in 2020, Mainstream Sellout in 2022 and most recently Lost Americana, which arrived earlier this month.
Despite the shift in sound, he insists he never abandoned Hip-Hop.
“I’ve been so present during this entire time of these three albums that people can choose to acknowledge it or look away from it,” he said. “Undeniably, in the fine print on the internet, my freestyles, my features, my constant glorification of Hip-Hop have always been there.”
MGK emphasized that the criticism surrounding his musical pivots only sharpens his focus.
“All that’s going to do is make my bars meaner and make the production colder. I’m refusing anything less than my greatest rap album with this next one.”
Fresh off the release of Lost Americana, which he described as his most refined project to date, MGK said he’s creatively locked in. “I can’t be messed with right now. I’m too tapped in and I’m too hungry.”
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