Machine Gun Kelly has been making headlines for his beef with Eminem, but today the Cleveland rapper released a new EP titled Binge. On the sixth track “LATELY,” MGK takes a trip through his difficult childhood and touches on a topic that he previously mentioned on “Story of the Stairs.”
On the first verse, MGK raps about being haunted by the memories of growing up poor:
I’m still dealing with some demons that ain’t really there
Grew up a screw up, pierced my ear and dyed my fucking hair
In 7th grade, I didn’t even have a bed, I had a chair
The fuck you think I go so hard for, I got out of there
Later on, the Bad Boy rapper references being abandoned by his mother at the age of 9:
Look, I promised myself I ain’t never going home
9 years old, my momma left me in the cold
Ayy, what do you think that type of shit do to your soul?
MGK previously addressed this topic on “Story of the Stairs” from his 2015 album General Admission.
On the track, he describes the anxious feeling of waiting to see his mother for the first time in about a dozen years:
Maybe I ain’t ready for it…
Shit, what should I wear?
Fuck that, I ain’t going down there
I waited over a decade for closure
In an interview with Genius, MGK spoke about his inspiration for the song:
He explained that while his mother used to visit from time to time, it felt like they really hadn’t seen each other after she left the family:
I was 9, on occasion. But to see somebody is a whole different thing than looking at somebody.
I hated and resented that situation so much that the last time I fucking remember her was from when I was 9 and she was with my father. And here I am at 25 finally confronting it all.
The feeling before I opened the door—it’s crazy. It’s a lot of emotion for me because she looks so much like me.
Of course, Eminem is known for having his own issues with his mother. In September 1999, she even filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit for disparaging comments he made about her in interviews. They eventually settled the lawsuit for $25,000, but Eminem continued to address their fractured relationship on songs like “Cleanin' Out My Closet” and “My Mom” before later apologizing on “Headlights.”
While Binge was announced on the same day that Eminem released “KILLSHOT,” the most recent diss in their ongoing beef, MGK revealed in a recent interview with The Breakfast Club that he was already planning to put the EP out.
Read all the lyrics to Machine Gun Kelly’s “LATELY” and “Story of the Stairs” on Genius now.
