After teasing a response to Machine Gun Kelly during part two of his all-encompassing Kamikaze sit-down interview with Sway Calloway, Eminem fired back with the scorching “Killshot” on Friday (Sept. 14). The reply comes 11 days after MGK’s initial “Rap Devil” haymaker in response to Em’s jabs on “Not Alike.”
Slim Shady kicks off the diss by mocking Kelly. He then attacks his irrelevance in an attempt to end his rapping career once and for all. The lyrical warfare finds a number of celebrities being thrown into the mix by Em, including Rihanna, Notorious B.I.G, Diddy, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift and Iggy Azalea all hearing their name dropped.
The 45-year-old then denies ever putting in any type of calls to shelve the “Bad Thing” artist’s career. “But I’m 45 and I’m still outselling you / By 29 I had three albums that had blew / Now let’s talk about somethin’ I don’t really do / Go in someone’s daughter’s mouth stealin’ food,” he raps.
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The public remains at odds about who took home round one of this highly publicized rap battle as the creative memes have poured into social media. It remains to be seen if MGK will, in fact, respond to the Detroit native’s “Kill Shot” on his Binge EP (Sept. 21) to keep the feud rolling into the fall.
For now, Billboard attempts to decipher the shrewd wordplay delivered by the Rap God on “Killshot.”
Eminem Clowns MGK for sporting a man bun at one point
“Here’s that autograph for your daughter, I wrote it on a Starter cap / Stan, Stan, son, listen, man, Dad isn’t mad / But how you gonna name yourself after a damn gun / And have a man bun?”
Eminem starts by interpolating lyrics from his 2000 hit “Stan” and turns his attention to Machine Gun Kelly, who has admitted to being a huge fan of Em in the past, but the love has since soured over the course of the decade. B-Rabbit then takes the opportunity to bring up MGK’s daughter after Kelly referred to a teenage Hailie being “hot as f–k” on Twitter back in 2012.
The former D12 frontman did happen to admit that the reason he took aim at the Cleveland native was “a lot more petty than that,” as it wasn’t the old tweet that he discovered years later while on a YouTube binge that pushed him over the edge to lambaste Kelly. The very next bar, Shady shows off his lyrical dexterity with a playful jab at MGK’s former hairstyle when he donned a man bun in 2015.
Whatever man bun pic.twitter.com/jWBhkLEnFN
— Chad (@AlienLove21) September 15, 2018
He revels in his early commercial success
“But I’m 45 and I’m still outselling you / By 29 I had three albums that had blew / Now let’s talk about somethin’ I don’t really do / Go in someone’s daughter’s mouth stealin’ food.”
The Shady Records boss quickly resorts back to bathing in his commercial success which nobody would dispute at this point. Marshall Mathers mentions the fact he still outsells Kelly as an elder statesman in hip-hop by a wide margin. He also compares his career at 28-years-old to where MGK currently stands, counting his three multi-platinum albums before turning 30, whereas Machine Gun Kelly only moved 57,000 units during Bloom‘s first-week sales last year.
Next, Eminem denies the Bad Boy Records artist’s accusations that he had him banned from Shade45. This is actually a direct response to a couple lines from his adversary on “Rap Devil”: “I just wanna feed my daughter / You tryna stop the money to support her.” Em emphatically states that the last thing he wants to do is take potential money-making opportunities away from fellow artists.
He has no plans of retiring his pen anytime soon
“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 / ‘Til I’m hitting old age / Still can fill a whole page with a 10-year-old’s rage / Got more fans than you in your own city, lil‘ kiddy, go play / Feel like I’m babysitting Lil Tay.”
MGK detailed his feelings that he’s just a more youthful Eminem on “Rap Devil” — and the real Slim Shady doesn’t want to hear any such thing. Kelly teased the idea that maybe it was time for Em to put down his pen since he’s out of touch, but the 45-year-old professes that he still maintains the burning passion inside to write eloquent bars much like his younger self.
The 8 Mile star then jokes that he could embarrassingly pack out Cleveland’s FirstEnergy Stadium with more fans than the “Till I Die” rapper could, and that’s his home city. Next, he ruthlessly compares Machine Gun Kelly to the brash 9-year-old social media star Lil Tay, wasn’t even alive for much of Em’s hitmaking era.
Lil Tay is being used by her older brother forcing her to make videos on Social Media. pic.twitter.com/NaueywApLp
— TSB (@ThatsSoBeyonce) June 11, 2018
He claims Machine Gun Kelly will suffer the same fate as Benzino & Ja Rule
“You ain’t never made a list next to no Biggie, no Jay / Next to Taylor Swift and that Iggy ho, you about to really blow / Kelly, they’ll be putting your name / Next to Ja, next to Benzino — die, motherf–ker / Like the last motherf–ker sayin’ Hailie in vain.”
Eminem asserts that MGK would never find himself in a conversation among hip-hop’s elite. He then likens Kelly to fellow blonde artists (such as Taylor Swift) and takes a swipe at Iggy Azalea in the process. Saying he’s really about to blow could be a double entendre interpreted as the Bloom artist’s fame taking off because he had the honor of being dissed by Eminem, but it could also destroy his future chances of ever being taken seriously as an MC. Iggy expressed that she wasn’t impressed in the least bit by the prowess exuded by Em on “Killshot.”
The “Nail in the Coffin” rapper declares that Machine Gun Kelly would soon find his name next to Benzino and Ja Rule, who had their careers severely hampered by coming out on the losing end of feuds with Slim Shady back in 2002 and 2003. Both artists brought up Hailie in music during their beef. Benzino named Em’s daughter on “Die Another Day,” with Ja closing out “Loose Change” by questioning Hailie’s upbringing during his war against 50 Cent.
Diss songs shouldn’t be filled with celebrity name drops to pad out lazy bars.
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) September 14, 2018
Also let’s talk about why it’s lazy now; but wasn’t in the earlier work.
The earlier stuff was crazy, twisted and creative.
This stuff feels more like picking names that fit easily into a rhyme scheme. –??— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) September 14, 2018
He refers to MGK as a mumble rapper
“So what good is a f–kin’ machine gun when it’s out of ammo / Had enough of this tatted-up mumble rapper / How the f–k can him and I battle / He’ll have to f–k Kim in my flannel / I’ll give him my sandals / Cause he knows long as I’m Shady, he’s gon’ have to live in my shadow.”
Em uses MGK’s rap name against him, signifying that Kelly is out of ammo to fire back. After calling the 28-year-old an irrelevant mumble rapper, he channels Slim Shady’s self-deprecating ways by taking Machine Gun Kelly’s threats of having sex with his ex-wife, Kim, on “Rap Devil” and flips it against him. Mathers says he’ll give MGK whatever he needs to look like him since it wouldn’t be the first time he’s attempted to mimic his ways.
Mocks MGK’s obsession with Halsey while she’s dating G-Eazy
“You’re f–kin’ salty / Cause Young Gerald’s balls-deep inside of Halsey / Your red sweater, your black leather / You dress better, I rap better / That a death threat or a love letter / Little white toothpick.”
There’s an old adage that goes something along the lines of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Eminem stands by G-Eazy, who also continued his longstanding feud with MGK as the pair of artists exchanged lyrical blows to close out August. The 45-year-old mocks Kelly for being in love with Halsey while she revives her relationship with Young Gerald once again. He moves into admitting that the 28-year-old may dress better than him, but don’t get it mistaken, the Rap God will always flow several notches above MGK. The set of jabs end with Em saying Machine Gun Kelly’s body frame resembles that of a toothpick.
He implicates Diddy in the murder of Tupac Shakur
“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, ah!”
The rap titan bizarrely drags the murder of Tupac Shakur into the diss record — possibly for shock value — and implicates Diddy for planning the hit against the Death Row rapper back in Sept. 1996. With the Bad Boy mogul being MGK’s boss, Puffy is still suiting up for the opposition in Em’s eyes, even though he still has love and respect for Mr. Combs. Connecting Diddy with Pac made for a messy scene on social media.
Jay Electronica was angered to the point where he felt the need to post a fiery tweet taking aim at Marshall Mathers. “How dare you accuse Diddy of killing Tupac while you completely look past Jimmy Iovine and those who profited from his death the MOST. You best tread carefully Son, before I come tear your ivory tower down like Sulaiman done the Templar Knights,” he wrote.
@eminem, how dare you accuse diddy of killing tupac while you completely look past jimmy iovine and those who profited from his death the MOST. You best tread carefully Son, before i come tear your ivory tower down like Sulaiman done the Templar Knights.
— ??? ???? ???? (@JayElectronica) September 14, 2018