Hotel Diablo is Machine Gun Kelly's most honest work of his career thus far.
When it comes to the Cleveland-born rapper's 10+ years career, he's admittedly struggled to define his music. However, his recently released album, which marks MGK's fourth studio LP, is quite easy to define— it's genuine.
The album's songs are a far cry from his usual heavy-hitting diss tracks with its heartbreaking personal anecdotes, raw bars, and overwhelming truths. While the 29-year-old rapper is veritably still battling his demons, Colson — the name he was born with and how he introduced himself for this interview— admitted that he's no longer covering up his problems with music, but rather using music to face his issues head-on.
Check out our full interview with MGK below to hear his thoughts on Hotel Diablo as well as his latest single "I Think I'm Okay."
Some would say this is your most raw and honest work to date. Did you approach Hotel Diablo differently than your previous albums?
Well, I trashed an album in 2018 that was completed and ready to go. I played it for the people whose opinions I trust and they were all like, 'This aint it.' And I knew it wasn't it because I realized that I was just covering up my actual problems with songs and not confronting the problems. So I think that Hotel Diablo was made because I finally dug deep and pulled out these things that I never talked about on a record. That's why I put the picture of me as a kid on the cover, because it's me confronting those problems I've had since I was a kid and these frustrations that I'd been holding onto. The kid's head is popped open because it's just all my thoughts throughout all the songs and from front to end you get this story of me really confronting these problems and then realizing at the end that I think I'm okay.
When I listened to Hotel Diablo, I was immediately struck by how honest you were with your storytelling. Was there a song that you questioned putting on the album because it was so honest?
There's a song called 'Death in My Pocket' on the album, and [it's about] when you reunite with a person, and then right when that happens you're told that they're going to be taken away from you. It's just so much regret and it is what it is and I can't stop what is inevitable, so I guess that was probably the hardest for me. I had wrote that verse right when I got off the phone call with my pops [and he] told me about what was going on.
(In the song, MGK raps, "doctors told my daddy won't be here a year from now," and hints at a possible cancer diagnosis.)
What made you decide to be so open on this album?
Well, I came in to be the best and my favorite artists have those albums that last through time and have played a big part in me becoming the person I became. And I never felt like I had that album yet in my career and I realized that art's supposed to make you feel some type of way. There was this verse on 'Glass House' where I made this confession that was really dark. When I played it in rooms, I always saw people get so uncomfortable, and that just made me comfortable as an artist, because that's what it's supposed to be about. Like, it's supposed to piss you off or it's supposed to enthuse you so much.
You obviously drew a lot from your personal experiences for Hotel Diablo, but would you say there is one source in your life that you drew the greatest inspiration?
It'd be weird to not say my own child [Casie Colson Baker] because my whole world revolves around her. Whether I know it or not, she's probably the reason why the album is what it is. I mean, f**k dude, she thought of the name. Well I thought of the name, but I was going to change it to something else, and I remember her being like, 'Yeah Dad, you should go back to Hotel Diablo. That was way cooler,' and I stuck with it because of that. And then I got a tattoo on the back of my head.
Since Casie gave her stamp of approval for the album's name, did she have any say on the songs for the album? How much would you say she was involved with the project?
I didn't show her 'Glass House' until the album came out because that's not really something you just like spring on your kid. For those who have listened to the song, you know [why]. I played her 'Death in My Pocket' though, she cried.
And [when it comes to her involvement with my music] she's always around the music anyway because she's always around.
With Hotel Diablo being so personal, you seem to have moved away from your shot-taking bars. Would you say you're over the drama, particularly your beefs with other rappers?
I'm definitely not scared of drama. I'm in my 20s. I feel like I've got a lot more drama to keep going with, you know, so I don't care. Like the lesson that we've all learned is, you touch a rattlesnake, you're about to get bit. So I'm cool. I'm chilling. I'm in my desert, you know what I mean? Don't walk on my sh*t.
You're known for crossing genres with your music, but if you had to define your sound, how would you define it?
I can't describe my sound or my music outside of the fact that there's passion, truth and storytelling because the beauty in it really [are] the words. Especially on Hotel Diablo, it's all poetry. It all has double meanings, it all has metaphor, it's all a deep rabbit hole you can go into. But I just got comfortable making a rock song. Whereas like maybe two albums ago or an album ago, I'd like be like, 'Well, I want to make this rock song but, people want to hear me do this, so it's like we'll do a rap-rock song.' And that's cool, but I think it's cooler when you know what you're getting when you turn it on.
Like if I play 'I Think I'm Okay,' that's what you want to hear. I don't want to hear 'I Think I'm Okay' come on, and then halfway through it just hits the streets. Right? So I finally just got comfortable and confident enough that I can do them individually.
Speaking of your new single "I Think I'm Okay," what's the story behind that track?
The story behind that track is just me being an idiot and ruining all relationships in the course of one night out. I've never really been someone where it like crumbles slowly. It's like Pompeii. Like it was a beautiful city, it was going great. And then this volcano just erupted and killed everyone. So that's like me, without the killing part.
How'd you get YUNGBLUD and Travis Barker on "I Think I'm Okay"?
I kept DMing YUNGBLUD, like, 'Come to American real quick.' We had never met, but I was like, 'I have this song that I just can't get you out of my head on. I know you're going to kill it," and he was finally like, "Dude I'm actually going to be there Monday." I was like, 'Bet,' and I gave him my address.
He just walked in my house, no doorbell. Not that my doorbell works at my house, but like he just walked in and I left the studio and saw him in my kitchen, and I was like, 'Oh my God. You're YUNGBLUD. Like what's up dude?' I was like, 'I actually only have 15 minutes before I have to go to this Travis Barker session, so let me just play you the song real quick, see if you like it and if, you know, whatever, if we can squeeze something in.' He was like, 'All right man, yeah.'
I played him the song, he was like, 'Love it, like record me real quick.' And he went in and recorded it, nothing written down, he just freestyled that whole thing. He freestyled for like 10 minutes and I just cut up the sections and I was like, 'Oh, this is sick.' I took it to Travis' studio and I was like, 'Yo I just did this song, I want to see what you think about it,' and I played it, and like 10 minutes later he was playing drums on it. And then we all went back in and kept working on the song because we kept trying to push each other to be better.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Photos: Adrianna Casiano for iHeartRadio