How did MGK (formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly) go from spitting bars on tracks like “Breaking News” and collaborating with Lil Jon, Wiz Khalifa, and Waka Flocka Flame, to strumming power chords in full Blink-182 fashion and dancing like Chip Skylark in his latest music video for “cliché”? From 2007 to 2019, MGK has been heavily involved in the rap game. But with the release of his fifth album, Tickets to My Downfall, fans were met with a sharp turn — he’d traded in beats for pop-punk riffs.

One theory circulating is that his shift was partially sparked by Eminem’s 2018 diss, which was released two years before MGK’s genre switch. While that connection seems like common sense, there’s more to MGK than meets the eye. From his earlier non-rap collaborations pre-Tickers to My Downfall, to his #LockdownSessions, it’s time to discuss whether the feud is the actual cause of MGK’s change in musical direction or just a fun fan theory in the musician’s lore.

MGK Switched Genres on His Fifth Album ‘Welcome to My Downfall’

MGK started his career with a series of mixtapes from 2007 to 2010, including 100 Words and Running and Lace Up – the latter would also become his debut album later on. Marked by his signature bullet-train speed, and aggressive rap style, the artist gained attention after becoming the first rapper to win at the Apollo Theater. In 2011, he signed with Bad Boy Records and released his debut album Lace Up in 2012, featuring the single “Wild Boy.” He followed up with General Admission and Bloom, which included the mainstream, radio hit “Bad Things” featuring Camila Cabello.

MGK’s 2020 Tickets to My Downfall contained every single trope one could find in the pop-punk playbook. Angsty lyrics, check. Power chords, check. Travis Barker is on the drums, check. It’s a nostalgic throwback, or rather a cosplay of it, that reminds us of the Myspace and Warped Tour era. The album also has a mini-movie to it titled, “Downfalls High,” following a lonely boy who falls in love with a popular girl storyline. Despite the project’s clichés, there’s meaning to MGK’s self-confessional lyrics. In “play this when i’m gone”, MGK wrote the song for his daughter, while “lonely” addresses the singer’s relationships with his late father and aunt.

Eminem Pulls the Trigger on MGK With His Diss Track ‘Kill Shot’

It’s bad enough to mess with Eminem, but laying a single word on his daughter is a death sentence. Back in 2012, MGK, who was only 22 years old at the time, made a comment on the “Stan” rapper’s then 16-year-old daughter Hailee Jade via his Twitter, saying that “she’s hot as fuck.” His single tweet comes with its own repercussions. In addition to the ban on MGK’s music on certain media outlets, allegedly orchestrated by Eminem, the rapper would come for MGK’s blood through his first diss track “Not Alike” in 2018. With bars like “And I’m talkin’ to you / But you already know who the fuck you are, Kelly,” Eminem made it clear that the song was targeted towards MGK.

MGK definitely got the memo and returned the favor with “Rap Devil” in the same year. On top of the title, MGK referenced Eminem’s past works in his lyrics. “We know you get nervous, Rabbit, I see Mama’s spaghetti all over your sweater / I wish you would lose yourself on the records that you made a decade ago, they were better” are all obvious references to “Lose Yourself.” Days after the release of “Rap Devil,” Eminem sealed the deal with “Kill Shot”, a line-by-line response to all of the claims MGK made on “Rap Devil” — a comprehensive, brutal dissection of the accusations thrown in Eminem’s direction.

MGK’s Lockdown Sessions Show Pop-Punk Is His Creative Breakthrough

To skeptical ears, MGK’s sudden shift to pop-punk might sound like a calculated move to boost his chart appeal. The timing of it all would’ve made sense — MGK’s feud with Eminem was in 2018, and the release of Tickets to My Downfall was in 2020. Tickets to My Downfall debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 all-format albums chart, marking his first time at the top. His follow-up album, Mainstream Sellout — a continuation of his pop-punk sound — was even nominated for Best Rock Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. All of this would’ve made a great ploy for MGK to salvage his remaining popularity following the feud.

But upon closer look into his random musical ventures, MGK’s pop-punk pursuits are just another part of an artist who’s been toying with genres long before this apparent “switch.” Even during his time spitting bars, MGK doesn’t mind expanding his musical repertoire from time to time. In 2012, MGK collaborated with M. Shadows and Synyster Gates of Avenged Sevenfold on his track “Save Me.” In 2013, he teamed up with Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens for a cover of Rise Against’s “Swing Life Away” — the same Quinn who joined him again in 2021 for “Love Race.” It was only until MGK’s #LockdownSessions that he proved that he was beyond genre, covering everything from Paramore’s “Misery Business”, freestyling on Jack Harlow’s “What’s Poppin,” and putting on a broodier spin on Rihanna’s “Love on the Brain” (per the request of Marilyn Manson). This doesn’t mean MGK is completely done with rap — he even pushed back against claims over his “departure” from the genre.

At the end of the day, the idea that “Eminem pushed MGK out of rap” is just an amusing fan theory — nothing more. Leaning on that rumor to explain MGK’s genre shift overlooks the years he’s spent exploring different musical styles and collaborating with different artists. His exact pop-punk sound might not be for everyone, but it doesn’t take away the fact that MGK has done much musical work on his own part.