The October 9 release date for Machine Gun Kelly’s debut LP Lace Up is fast approaching, and fans are gearing up for the Cleveland emcee’s new music. Now, in a recent interview with DJ Semtex, MGK speaks on his position in the game and how he feels he’s managed his career.

MGK admitted that one of the main reasons he feels under appreciated as a lyricist is due to his skin color and off-kilter sense of style. He said that on top of that, he knows that some of his antics have ostracized him from the majority of the commercial Hip Hop community despite his talent. Regardless, however, he says he’s happy with the way he’s managed his career thus far and has been maturing as an artist and businessman.

“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, mixed with the fact that I don’t dress like the normal Hip Hop person,” he said. “Right now, I just don’t feel like I fit in. I feel like I’m in the class, [but] I’m just the person in the corner. 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.”

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He continued, “I definitely have matured a lot, especially with the album coming out, it kind of gave me hope in life. I think I shunned a lot of people, but I also think that I kept what I had exclusive, meaning that I didn’t ho myself out. I’m proud of how I’ve done my career, but I’m definitely going to change up a little bit.”

Check out the full interview below.

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