On August 31st, Eminem dropped his surprise album, Kamikaze. The album generally focuses on how Em wishes new school rappers would get off his lawn, (no old person pun intended). One of these new-school-rappers, Machine Gun Kelly was referenced to directly by name on the track, “Not Alike”.

The verse that Em included was an attack at MGK in response to a comment made by the rapper in 2012 where he called his 16 year old daughter, “Hot as F***”. MGK was 21 at the time and he was heavily scrutinized for these comments by the Twitter world.

6 years later on this surprise album, Eminem finally takes a jab back at MGK. When Eminem released his surprise album Kamikaze in August, rap fans revealed at the legend’s return to the industry following the critically judged Revival. Yet the Royce Da 5’9″ collaboration “Not Alike” stirred up lots of controversy for obvious reasons. Eminem sends direct shots at Machine Gun Kelly, calling him out by name and taking him to town for his comments about Hailie (Eminem’s daughter) and his subliminal shot on the track “No Reason.” Although the tension between these two had been brewing for years, “Not Alike” is the first instance of either rapper throwing down the gauntlet and taking a direct shot.

Days after Eminem dissed Machine Gun Kelly on “Not Alike,” MGK unleashed his own retaliation track. The harsh, “Rap Devil,” in which he accuses Eminem of being bitter, out of touch and having him banned from Shade 45. Most importantly making fun of his age. This was the first time someone has ever came at Eminem as hard as MGK did and challenged him to come back. It was the first direct response to Kamikaze’s shots by any rapper, leading many to wonder whether Eminem would counter.

On September 14, 2018, Eminem unleashed the Machine Gun Kelly diss “Killshot,” in which he poked fun at Machine Gun Kelly’s appearance and lack of commercial success. The ferocious song broke YouTube’s record for most plays in its first 24 hours, amassing 38.1 million views. Eminem in regards to bars destroyed MGK as the lyrical genius he is. The music world heavily is in favor of Eminem for taking this battle against MGK as he said he won’t come back with another track.