Never one to hide his feelings, sometimes to a fault, Machine Gun Kelly talks about what he feels has held him back in the eyes of some fans and critics. From his beef with Yelawolf, to his opinions on his label forcing him to release commercial music, MGK is always vocal. Gearing up for the release of his Lace Up album, Kelly reflects on his career to this point and feels his skin color, along with his non-traditional hip hop style, has caused many to overlook his lyrical capabilities.
Talking about being a Caucasian rapper, MGK feels it is his biggest obstacle. In an interview with DJ Semtex (via HHDX), Kelly said, “I haven't spoken on [skin] color in so long, but...I honestly feel like right now, my biggest hindrance in why you don't hear things like, 'MGK is lyrically hot'…[is] the white thing” adding, “mixed with the fact that I don't dress like the normal Hip Hop person.”
Feeling that he has matured with his album set to drop, MGK admits that he has rubbed many the wrong way with his strong opinions, and how he has refused to conform at times, “I definitely put myself in that corner by being so…strongly opinionated, like, 'Oh, I don't believe in press, I don't want to do press' - I definitely put myself in that corner sometimes, where I don't blame people for not wanting to be friends with me."
Expanding on his “maturity”, Kelly says he is pleased with his career so far, but realizes some changes he can make to help advance it, “"I definitely have matured a lot, especially with the album coming out, it kind of gave me hope in life...I'm proud of how I've done my career, but I'm definitely going to change up a little bit."
Machine Gun Kelly’s Lace Up album is set to drop on October 9th.