Machine Gun Kelly

MGK has since departed from the rap scene and entered the pop punk and alternative rock genres. This musical duality is just one of MGK’s star qualities; the musician also has several acting credits to his name.

MGK was born in Houston, TX, but bounced around as far as Egypt before settling into Colorado with his father. With his mother out of the picture, MGK struggled growing up as his father dealt with depression and unemployment. The young artist found solace in MCing and channeled the dark feelings in his life into his rhymes after taking inspiration from Ludacris, Eminem, and DMX.

As he grew up, MGK began to find all sorts of troubles for himself, including fighting and drugs. After his first mixtape was released in 2006, it led to bigger and better things for the rapper. His fan base grew locally and soon enough he was touring high schools around the country. His excited fans often caused such a commotion that security began to turn him away from his own gigs.

In 2009, MGK performed at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City. Not only was he the first rapper to win the Apollo Theater Showcase competition, he won three times in a row. He gained further exposure that year when he freestyled his “Chip Off the Block” single on MTV2’s “Suckerfree Freestyle” show.

MGK kept working hard through the birth of his first child and even self-managed a potentially career-ending bit of vocal damage. He was rewarded when the release of his Lace UP mixtape boosted his popularity to new heights.

MGK signed a deal with Bad Boy/Interscope and, after being one of XXL’s 2012 freshmen, his debut album was released, hitting number four on the charts and selling over 50,000 copies in its first week. He followed that up with the release of 2013’s Black Flag mixtape, featuring the likes of French Montana and Wiz Khalifa.

In 2014, MGK made his film debut. He played a rapper named Kid Culprit in the romantic drama Beyond the Lights. The next year in June, he released his second album, General Admission. This was followed up with the joint single “Bad Things” with Camila Cabello in 2016. It climbed to number four on the U.S. Billboard 100 chart.

Shortly after, MGK was set to join Linkin Park’s One More Light Tour as a supporting act. The tour was canceled, however, due to the tragic death of frontman Chester Bennington. MGK later paid tribute to Bennington by releasing an acoustic cover of the band’s song, “Numb.”

In 2018, MGK got into a feud with Eminem which spawned a series of hits for both rappers. MGK released, “Rap Devil,” a response to Eminem’s diss track, “Not Alike.” The song reached the top of the iTunes Chart. Later that month, Eminem responded with the song, “Killshot.”

MGK then dropped his new EP, Binge. He followed up with a new studio album, Hotel Diablo, which debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 chart, making it his fourth Top 10 album. It includes the single, “I Think I’m Okay,” with Yungblud and Travis Barker. This would be the first of many collaborations between MGK and the Blink-182 drummer.

The following year, MGK teased an upcoming pop punk album produced by Barker. Tickets to My Downfall came out in September 2020 to critical acclaim. The record was also a commercial success, debuting at the top of the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. It became MGK’s first album to be certified platinum by the RIAA.

MGK’s sixth studio album, Mainstream Sellout, is also a collaboration with Barker. The album dropped in March 2022 and became the highest-selling album of the week. It was also MGK’s second number one album.

The next month, MGK announced his engagement to actress Megan Fox. The pair met while filming the 2021 movie, Midnight in the Switchgrass. They’ve also starred together in MGK and MOD SUN‘s comedy, Good Mourning. MGK has also appeared in the movies Nerve, Bird Box, Big Time Adolescence, The Dirt, and Project Power. While this multi-talented artist has had success pursuing acting, he shows no signs of stopping releasing music for his fans worldwide.

Born to a military family, Wiz Khalifa’s early years were spent moving from country to country, never truly able to call one place home. This international upbringing has been reflected in the rapper’s music and found him success with his 2008 single “Say Yeah”, which featured Wiz Khalifa’s rap lyrics over a Eurodance track.

Taking inspiration from a variety of artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Notorious B.I.G., Wiz Khalifa plays with a range of musical styles within his tracks, but all are equally melodic.

Known for cultivating a strong fan following from a grassroots level, Wiz Khalifa found his popularity continue to increase after the release of his free mix tape “Kush and Orange Juice”. The mix tape generated so much excitement from fans that it ended up being the number one trending topic on Twitter shortly after its release, and led the rapper to sell out every gig in his 2010 “Waken Baken” tour.

Moving away from Warner Brothers due to delays in releasing his material, Wiz Khalifa switched to Atlantic Records in 2010 and released single “Black and Yellow” shortly after. The single hit the number one spot in the US charts and earned him a Grammy and MTV VMA Award nomination.

The success of this single bolstered anticipation for Wiz Khalifa’s 2011 studio album “Rolling Papers”, which debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard charts. It wasn’t long before this success was repeated when Wiz Khalifa’s 2012 album “O.N.I.F.C” once again debuted in the US number 2 spot with single “Work Hard, Play Hard” reaching number 3 in the rap charts.

Unprepared to rest on his laurels, Wiz Khalifa formed his own record label Taylor Gang Records and has collaborated with Curren$y on a collaborative EP. Furthermore, Wiz Khalifa upped his own achievements yet again with the release of his fifth studio album “Blacc Hollywood” in 2014, which hit the number one spot in the US Billboard charts.