Machine Gun Kelly has addressed the “stigma” surrounding being a white rapper, claiming that most of the backlash he’s faced in his career has come from white, not Black, fans.
The Cleveland-born rapper and punk rocker stopped by Logan Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast on Tuesday (August 27) where he discussed his relationship with Hip Hop fans of the caucasion persuasion.
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“I won’t deny that there is a subconscious stigma around that, being white in Hip Hop,” he said after co-host Mike Majlak brought up the criticism that white rappers face. “To me, it’s so funny because the streets fuck with me so tough. It’s honestly from other white people that give me the most shit.”
MGK then gave former foe Eminem props for being the “only” white rapper to be fully accepted in Hip Hop: “The crazy thing is, there’s only been one who’s done it. There’s only been one who’s done it and crossed that line of ‘we accept.'”
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He added: “That’s the goal. And to me, I crossed that.”
Check out the conversation at the 37:45 mark below.
Despite Machine Gun Kelly’s praise, Eminem himself has previously opened up about the criticism he received for being a white rapper.
In a 2022 op-ed for XXL, the Detroit native reflected on his legendary career, which he explained started out a bit rocky due to the color of his skin.
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“When things started happening for me, I was getting a lot of heat, being a white rapper, and XXL wrote something about that,” Em wrote. “I remember going to one of those newsstands in New York when the magazine had just started out, and I bought that and a couple of other rap magazines. I flipped to the last page first and XXL was dissing me. What the fuck?”
In the aforementioned issue, XXL had written a piece about Eminem being a white rapper, pulling no punches in their criticism of him. The “My Name Is” hitmaker didn’t take too kindly to the insults, but was well aware of his place as a “guest” in the culture.
“I don’t even know if I read the whole article — I was used to reading things like that about me — but it hurt because I felt they didn’t know me to make that kind of judgment,” he continued.
“Coming up, I had to deal with that a lot. I wanted to be respectful because what I do is Black music. I knew I was coming into it as a guest in the house. And XXL, The Source, Rap Pages and VIBE were Hip Hop bibles at the time.
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“I understood, at the same time, everybody’s perception of a white guy coming into Hip Hop and all of a sudden things start happening for him. So, if XXL would’ve even had a conversation with me, maybe they would’ve understood me more.”
