If you're living under a rock and don't know MGK, honestly, good for you The rapper-turned-rock star went on the Garza (Suicide Silence) podcast. Love him or hate him, Kelly is a polarizing figure in the rap, metal, and punk spaces, so naturally he's gonna stir the pot. He could've just rode the high of the Durst collab track but no, so in an effort to save the average Alex Garza or nu metal fan some time, here are a few of the highlights(?) of the episode, complete with timestamps.
- " The last thing when I go to sleep is wonder care if anyone likes me" (8:55)
Are we forgetting that this man has beef with now with Eminem, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Shaun Morgan of Seether, all current and previous members of Atreyu, Matt Heafy of Trivium, and so many others? You clearly care what people think. Throughout this episode this becomes more apparent, but for now, keep that in the back of your mind.
- "What do you do when someone punches you in the face?" (15:24)
See what I mean, loyal readers? Kelly's already invalidated his first point. Instead of taking it on the chin and accepting someone doesn't want to work with him, he contradicts himself by saying "I punch back". If you punch back, you need to 1) not miss and 2) make sure that the beef wasn't your fault and you blew out someone backing away out of proportion.
You do care. But I digress.
- "Man, cuz y'all taught us that that shit (on being "opinionated"). (20:06)
You haven't been outspoken on really anything positive. Kelly, for someone who has some kernel of truth, still loves to get defensive and edgy about his general negative opinions. I would get it if the music was entertaining, or even if he was a younger man. But Mr. Gun is 36 years old. That's old enough to rent a car, have a kid, pay takes, own a home. I don't want a man close to his 40s writing high school love songs, and think that his off-handed, mean-spirited comments are clearly normal. Rock stars told you to stand up for what you believe in and, to a certain extent, not care what people think about your music or lifestyle or place in the world, not be a dick to a person on a random afternoon.
What's worse is when he blames his behavior on his parents and his upbringing. Simply put, do better, dude. My childhood wasn't great either (I went to rehab, and that's clearly why I scream in a screamo band and write about nu metal), however I never started beef with randoms on Twitter who say you suck. Again, you're almost 40, grow up.
- The whole razor blade guitar debacle (50:04 minutes)
While this whole story is probably a nothing burger compared the other stupid things in here, it is kinda stupid for you to dig deeper hole about this guitar. The idea behind this might have been misconstrued then, it was still probably not the greatest, though I don't care for censorship of edgy and provoking art. If you have to explain away that your lyrics meant no reference to self harm, it still doesn't change the fact that it's what everyone thought it was, and this just seems like a copout to save face. Bringing it up does really nothing but stole flames. You even laughed in the interview referencing the manufacturers saying and Im quoting his words not mine, "This is gonna start some shit". For someone promoting mental health, not a good look.
5. / 6. "I'm cool being the heel in this wrestling match". / When most people fan a flame, I put gas to that shit"- (1:06:25-1:07:50)
We get it, Mr. Tough Guy, but please, tell us how you don't care? You're digging your own grave. I can't imagine wanting to start beef with someone when you don't even have any clout or anything to back it up. You could be the kid who grew up from your mistakes, but you won't do that. Just because you think you're Shakespeare does not mean that all the world's a stage and everyone is a player. Yes, humans love drama, but when the world is already a reality show that affects peoples lives, the last thing people want to hear is you complaining.
If you're going to claim to be a role model, act like it.
- Weird simulation theory / Matrix talk (1:27:35)
I don't know man, this is too Joe Rogan for me. I started to zone out watching this, but it's refreshing seeing him say stupid shit that isn't out and out awful. Simulation theory, while less bad than flat earth, is kind of fitting yet insane for this kind of podcast. Far be it for me to judge what higher power one might believe in, but pretty sure this doesn't really help you or your publicist dude.
- Admitting to just starting beef (1:31:21)
Do you remember that "put that in the back of your head comment" from my first rebuttal? Well, take that back out for me and wake up, babe, new one sided beef starring mgk just dropped.
In this segment of the podcast, Kelly drones on and on about how everybody hates him, yet he doesn't care. MGK has now started beef with legendary soundcloud emo rapper nothing, nowhere, and being a fan of theirs, this one is personal. Somehow, he was too hotheaded to even say Joe Mulherin's name. According to both accounts while this very much was "kinda" resolved; it definitely was weird and never really public until randomly popping up now. Kelly, in a rage, wanted to fight the backing band members of one Mr. Mulherin on his very own birthday show, stating "They were really confused." While Kelly did apologize, Mulherin went on to still be confused and seemed uncomfortable with this information being brought up again on a podcast. He continued to state on Instagram, "no harm no foul". Weird that he didn't even name Joe, but whatever. All this in a weird white knight defense of Bring Me The Horizon's Oli Skyes, when he never asked for this? Kelly admitted he didn't even know nothing, nowhere as a project, all he saw was a band name he associated in his head with the evil being that he made up.
- Kelly says weird stuff about his beef with YUNGBLUD unprompted (1:36:44)
This puts me in a weird position. I'd usually make a low hanging joke about "the two worst people are fighting, who wins?" But the more I look into this, it seems like Kelly was - no surprise - fully in the wrong. It seems like MGK made weird many comment throughout his that aren't 100% good, and YUNGBLUD said "well, that's probably not appropriate for my career, and on top of that, the comments are shitty so you should say sorry" doesn't seem that unreasonable. We've all said and done things that were probably not OK, but we apologize, make an effort to do better, and move on. It seems Kelly wants the flash and flare when it comes the "rock star lifestyle" but doesn't realize that stuff has consequences no matter how passé accountability is nowadays.
Kelly is definitely not going away, but everyday I hear stuff against my will, it gets more and more harder to defend the - and this bears repeating - 36 year old rapper, especially when he beefs with his "friends" now turned enemies sometimes ten or more years his senior.
Check out the full episode below:
