Eminem’s “Killshot” dropped three years ago today.
On that day in 2018, Eminem released the most successful diss track “Killshot” in music history. The track was an MGK diss, in response to Kelly’s “Rap Devil” which also gained some huge streaming numbers. At that time, Eminem’s “Killshot” achieved the biggest youtube debut for a Hip-Hop track, by gathering over 38 million in the first 24 hours. Eminem’s “Killshot” debuted at number 3 on Billboard Hot 100 and it went platinum in less than 2 months.
The situation between Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly began when the Cleveland native made a tweet in 2012 about Eminem’s daughter Hailie Jade, when she was 16 years old. This led to a series of events, including Eminem dissing MGK in his album “Kamikaze” on song “Not Alike” with Royce 5’9 and MGK responding with “Rap Devil.”
“Pictures of [Hailie] had came out, and I’m like, what, 20 years old, 21 at the time? I said ‘She’s beautiful, but all respect due. Eminem is king. What’s wrong with that? Is there a 15-year age gap where I’m a creep for that? I was 21, dawg. Certain people took it, and ran with it and hyped it up,” Kelly said about the tweet in 2015.
“Killshot” broke the internet upon its release, debuting at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also received over 38.1 million views on YouTube within the first 24 hours, making it one of the most-viewed videos in that time frame at the time of its release. As of September 2023, the “Killshot” video has been viewed over 462 million times on YouTube.
Following the release of Killshot, Kelly responded to Eminem in a tweet, criticizing him for what MGK perceived as a slow response. This diss track and the subsequent back-and-forth between Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly remain significant moments in their ongoing feud.
In a post on Instagram, 50 Cent included a photo of a news story detailing the song’s enormous popularity on YouTube.
He said on Instagram, “Man do you see this sh-t, Think about it the Biggest hip-hop song on youtube.” “Now everybody gotta take a L because of MGK. What the f–k, we didn’t have anything to do with this sh-t Damn. How many times yal was playing that sh-t. LOL get the str-p”.
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Joyner Lucas, who is one of the Lollapalooza headliners this year, is ridiculing Machine Gun Kelly, who was just confirmed as one of the festival’s headliners. In reference to his beef with Eminem Killshot, the rapper dragged the Cleveland artist while threatening to trash him.
“Then you got this goofy a-s ni–a headlining? Smh how sway?,” he asked in a tweet. “someone said “don’t bring out the rap devil”… maaaaannnn listen. Lol What my brother Marshall did to this ni–a @machinegunkelly is light compared to what’s waiting if he wanna walk down that street wit me. Ain’t nobody worried bout a ni–a who paints his nails. foh,” he wrote in another tweet.
Machine Gun Kelly tweeted about Eminem’s daughter, Hailie Mathers, in 2012. “I just seen a photo of Eminem’s daughter…and I have to say, she is sexy as f–k, in the most respectful manner possible since Em is king,” the tweet stated. In 2015, MGK claimed that Eminem forbade him from attending Shade 45, an Eminem-owned radio station. In March 2018, MGK collaborated on a song alongside Tech N9ne, purportedly sending subliminal disses at Eminem.
Killshot is also the title of a 2008 film directed by John Madden and shot in Eminem’s hometown of Detroit, Michigan. As a result, fan theories have alleged that Eminem was aware of the film. The primary character, Carmen Colson, is the target of an experienced, psychotic hitman. Machine Gun Kelly’s official name is Colson Baker.
Eminem dropped his surprise album Kamikaze on August 31, 2018, in which he dissed a number of musicians, including MGK. In 2017, MGK performed a freestyle with The LA Leakers on Power 106 FM. During this time, he claimed that Eminem had once again blacklisted him.
Em began pursuing MGK in 2012 after receiving offensive Twitter remarks regarding his daughter Hailie Jade. According to the second half of the Sway interview, Eminem was motivated to respond by MGK’s subliminal disses on Power 106’s “L.A. Leakers (Freestyle)” in May 2017 and Tech N9ne’s “No Reason” in March 2018.
Killshot is also the title of a 2008 film directed by John Madden that was shot in Eminem’s hometown of Detroit, Michigan. As a result, fan theories have speculated that Eminem must have been aware of the film. Carmen Colson is the primary character in the story, and she is being pursued by an experienced, psychotic hitman. Machine Gun Kelly’s official name is Colson Baker.
Machine Gun Kelly and Eminem’s dispute came to a head in the summer of 2018 with the release of “Killshot,” an insult-filled single in which the Detroit rapper targeted MGK’s rap-related flaws.
Slim Shady begins the insult by making fun of Kelly. He then tackles his irrelevance in an attempt to put a stop to his rapping career for good. Em throws a lot of superstars into the mix throughout the lyrical battle, including Rihanna, Notorious B.I.G, Diddy, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, and Iggy Azalea.
This is also one of a few tunes Eminem has released that is directed towards the Cleveland rapper, who has retaliated with lyrical attacks of his own. The fight between Em and Machine Gun Kelly appears to have started over comments Machine Gun Kelly made about Em’s daughter, Hailie, on Twitter in 2012.
Killshot isn’t the only diss that Eminem did. Here is the list of best diss tracks by Eminem.
Other than MGK there were other names that were dropped too. Machine Gun Kelly replied with a tweet, slamming Eminem for his perceived sluggish reaction. Rapper Jay Electronica slammed Eminem for a passage in the song in which he allegedly accused Diddy of murdering Tupac. After that, Electronica deactivated his social media accounts. Iggy Azalea’s name was mentioned in the song, and she responded with a series of tweets criticizing and responding to the lyrics, labelling the bars “lazy.”
In its first week, “Killshot”, with over 38.1 million views in the first 24 hours of its release on YouTube, making it the twentieth most-viewed video on the platform and the most for an audio-only release. It also set a new record for the largest YouTube launch for a hip-hop video, topping Kanye West and Lil Pump’s “I Love It” by a week. 6ix9ine’s premiere of “Gooba” in 2020 surpassed this. “Killshot” has been seen over 407 million times on YouTube as of September 6, 2021.
Eminem begins by interpolating phrases from his 2000 hit “Stan” and then turns his focus to Machine Gun Kelly, who has previously confessed to being a great admirer of Em, but their relationship has deteriorated over the years. After Kelly referred to a teenage Hailie as “hot as f—k” on Twitter in 2012, B-Rabbit uses the chance to bring up MGK’s kid.
Machine Gun Kelly Drops Freestyle Over JAY-Z & Eminem’s “Renegade”; Disses Jack Harlow
Eminem claims that MGK never would find himself in a discussion with hip-hop artists despite the fact that this did happen later in his career. In an interview, MGK also admitted as much. He got down with Interview Magazine for an interview, during which Machine Gun Kelly said that his previous year’s effort, ‘Hote Diablo,’ was poorly received by audiences owing to Eminem’s historic dispute. Due to the disappointing sales of his last effort, he decided to try Pop Funk with his new album, which landed him his first number-one on the Billboard 200 list.
Here are some interesting facts about Eminem’s “Killshot” and the full song lyrics explained.
There were layers to this song before it was even released:
-Eminem did a 7-minute video playing Pac-Man.
-Eminem releases the track “Killshot” 7 days after Pac got shot, towards someone with Pac-Man tattoos.
-One of Pac’s albums is called: The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.
-Killshot is also the name of a movie where the main character “Colson” gets shot down by an experienced gunner; MGK’s middle name is Colson.
-At the end of the track, Eminem talks about the call that got Pac shot and killed.
“Say you got me in a scope, but you grazed me
I say one call to Interscope and you’re Swayze”
“Meaning if he called Interscope he’d disappear”
“Swayze” is a synonym for “Ghost” and “gone/disappear”
“Ghost” was a 1990 movie with Patrick Swayze, whose character is murdered and is left to roam the earth as a powerless spirit.
Eminem’s “Killshot” was released on the anniversary of Patrick Swayze’s Death (September 14th, 2009)
MGK refers to himself as the Ghost of the Future. Patrick Swayze was in a movie called Ghost but also died on September 14th (release date of Killshot). And there was also a rapper called Shwayze who was essentially a one-hit-wonder (if even that).
Em played Pacman on Instagram for 7mins thinking of a masterplan dissing a kid with Pac-man tattoos, releasing it 7 days after Pac died.
B311 easter egg – Lethal injection go to sleep [6] feet deep. I give you a [B] for the effort but if I was [3] foot [11] you’d look up to me…
It may be a coincidence but if you google 6B311, there is a flight from Stockholm to Rhodes (Greece) and 2 dates:
Previous was: 14th September (killshot release)
Next is: 21st September (MGK’s new album)
Also if we push it, the flight company is TUIfly Nordic / Eminem is on his Nordic Track. There are plenty more like the Lox and Jadakiss (jade a kiss Hailie jade) one(insane wordplay just search it). Lox is a hairstyle that MGK used/uses + lox is a rap group and Jadakiss is the name of one of their folks.
“Rihanna just hit me on the text
Last night I left hickeys on her neck”
(Referring to MGK’s diss track where he said Eminem is too afraid to ask for her number)
-“Insult me in a line, compliment me on the next”
(Mgk kept complimenting Eminem like a fanboy)
-“Was watchin’ 8 Mile on my NordicTrack”
(MGK said the only time Eminem saw 8 mile was at his treadmill, Eminem confirms saying he saw it at his NordicTrack which is the most expensive treadmill)
-“Realized I forgot to call you back
Here’s that autograph for your daughter, I wrote it on a Starter cap”
(Stan reference, How MGK is just a bitter fan who never got his idol’s attention)
-“But how you gonna name yourself after a damn gun
And have a man-bun?”
(No need to explain that)
-“Say you got me in a scope, but you grazed me
I say one call to Interscope and you’re Swayze”
(Swayze here is a synonym of Ghost, Meaning Eminem says how his one call can make MGK disappear from Interscope)
-“But I’m 45 and I’m still outselling you”
(No need to explain)
-“But you’re a f**kin’ molehill
Now I’ma make a mountain out of you, woo!”
(Em by calling MGK a molehill /someone relatively unimportant, Says he will make a mountain out of him /giving him undeserved attention)
-“Gunner? Bi**h, you ain’t a bow and arrow”
(MGK named himself after a gun but Eminem thinks he is nothing, not even a bow and arrow)
-“Playin’ dead, that’s the only time you hold still”
(MGK calls himself a gunner and a gunner holds still while aiming but Eminem says MGK is nothing. He says the only time you hold still is while you play dead)
-“Are you eating cereal or oatmeal?
What the f**k’s in the bowl, milk? Wheaties or Cheerios?
‘Cause I’m takin’ a sh*t in ’em, Kelly, I need reading material
…Dictionary…”
(In MGK’s diss he says all Eminem does is stay inside and read a dictionary, MGK is also something out of a bowl in his video, which is completely unrelated to the video)
-“Luxury, oh, you broke, bi**h? Yeah, I had enough money in ’02
To burn it in front of you, ho
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”
(Eminem was way ahead of MGK at his age and still is way ahead of MGK)
-“Got more fans than you in your own city, Lil’ kiddy, go play”
(No need to explain)
-“Shootin’ a video just to f**kin’ dig your own grave”
(MGK is holding a shovel in his diss track video, Eminem says he is digging his own grave by shooting that video)
-“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 says the only list where MGK’s name will be is the list of rappers whose career Eminem has ended)
-“My biggest flops are your greatest hits”
(No need to explain)
-“The game’s mine again and ain’t nothin’ changed but the locks
So before I slay this bi**h I, mwah, give Jade a kiss”
(Eminem shouts out the rapper Jadakiss who is in a rap group named LOX, He also talks about Hailie as her middle name is “Jade”)
-“Bein’ rich-shamed by some prick usin’ my name for clickbait
In a state of bliss ’cause I said his goddamn name”
(MGK click baited Eminem’s name to get views on his diss track)
-“This is it, as big as you’re gonna get, so enjoy it
Had to give you a career to destroy it”
(No need to explain)
-“But if I was three foot 11
You’d look up to me, and for the record
You would s**k a d**k to f**kin’ be me for a second”
(Eminem says even if he was 3 foot 11, MGK would still look up to him, Referring to MGK’s diss where he says he is taller than Eminem)
-“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 claims that MGK would have to be f**king Kim before he was a real threat to Em. But in order to f**k Kim, MGK would have to be even more of an Eminem wannabe than he already is, literally wearing his clothing. Em suggests that he’ll help MGK out in this department, even giving him his sandals. This is also possibly a reference to the “Rap Devil” video in which MGK can be seen wearing sandals with socks. Em is also be saying that as long as he’s ‘shading’) MGK, the younger rapper will remain well below him “in his shadow”)
-“You’re f**kin’ salty
‘Cause Young Gerald’s ba**s-deep inside of Halsey”
(Eminem says MGK is salty about how his ex Halsey is getting banged by the rapper G Easy)
-“Who else want it, Kells?
Attempt fails, Budden, L’s
F**kin’ nails in these coffins as soft as Cottonelle”
(Eminem likens his enemies’ insults to an impotent attempt at a burial, where the proverbial closing of his coffin is carried out with Cottonelleproducts—a company known for its toilet paper and flushable wipes.)
-“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!”
(Em says the day you make a hit will be the day “Diddy” = MGK’s boss will admit that he got Tupac killed (which he never will)
This was only a warning from Eminem, The fish earring with the rose in its mouth on Mgk, if you look closely! The Mafia uses that to Warn an enemy, leaving it at their front door.
Also, check out Eminem’s “Killshot” explained by Genius.
In an interview, Nick Cannon claimed he won the beef against Eminem, and stated the mistake that Machine Gun Kelly did. “I think I won [the battle.] If somebody picks a fight but does not show up to the fight,” he claimed. “I was the one who was responding. He was on Fat Joe’s record, talking… I love Eminem, he started f**king with me and then ran off like a little bi**h. He started making records about me first… I think It was all for sport man. I love Em. But I think I won the battle. He did not respond. He started it.”
He continued, “The third time, I started bringing race into it. That’s why I went too far, I did too much, I should have stopped at the second record. I was planning to put Benzino on the next record [Laughs]. But we all know Eminem is the GOAT. He definitely a top 5. But I think Drake is coming for the spot. Drake is a better song-maker than the majority in the industry. But If we talking about punchline, bar for bar and lyricism, I’mma go with Drake. Eminem is the king of flow. Eminem is a great storyteller. Might be one of my favourite storytellers in hip-hop. Eminem is probably number one, cause ain’t nobody topping “Stan” and “Lose Yourself.” Eminem is a better storyteller than Drake, But if we go bar for bar, Eminem’s never said nothing bar-wise.”
“I was in Detroit last week with my man Royce. It’s all love. I think MGK made the same mistake that I made. We were probably too excited and overzealous that we got to battle with the Goat. We got to get in the ring with one of the best to ever do it. I was excited. I was like ‘Oh sh*t, he paid attention’ and the whole goal was to get attention.”
