Machine Gun Kelly (musician)

Colson Baker born April 22, 1990, known professionally as Machine Gun Kelly (MGK), is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, and actor. He has released four studio albums since Lace Up, his first, was released in 2012. He made his film debut in the 2014 romantic drama Beyond the Lights. He has also appeared in several other films and had a recurring role on the Showtime series Roadies in 2016.

He embarked on a musical career as a teenager, releasing a mixtape in 2006. He went on to release four more mixtapes. Baker then secured a recording contract with Bad Boy and Interscope Records in 2011. His major label debut album, Lace Up, was released in October 2012 to positive response from critics. The record contained the singles “Wild Boy”, “Invincible”, “Stereo”, and “Hold On (Shut Up)”, and debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart; it was later confirmed to have sold more than 178,000 copies.

In early 2015, Baker released the singles “Till I Die” and “A Little More” for his second studio album, General Admission, which released in October 2015, and debuted at number four in the US. The album incorporated darker tones and storytelling, with elements of rap rock and R&B. His third studio album, Bloom, was released on May 12, 2017, preceded by “Bad Things” with Camila Cabello, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming his highest-charting single. His fourth studio album, Hotel Diablo, was released July 5, 2019, and was supported by three singles: “Hollywood Whore”, “El Diablo”, and “I Think I’m Okay” (featuring Travis Barker and Yungblud). His fifth studio album, Tickets to My Downfall, was released on September 25, 2020 and marked a departure from rap in favor of pop punk, with production entirely helmed by Barker.

Life and career

1990–2009: Early life and career beginnings

Colson Baker was born on April 22, 1990, in Houston to missionary parents. Baker and his family moved all around the world and took up residence abroad from Egypt to Germany, as well as throughout the United States, in Chicago, Denver, and Cleveland. He settled in Denver, along with his father, after his mother had left home, and the pair moved in with Baker’s aunt. Following his father suffering from depression and unemployment, Baker endured bullying from other children in the neighborhood. He started listening to rap in the sixth grade, when he attended Hamilton Middle School, a school with an ethnically diverse student body in Denver, Colorado. The first three rappers that got him into the genre of hip hop as a child were Ludacris, Eminem and DMX, with Baker gaining interest in the genre after listening to DMX’s “We Right Here” from the album The Great Depression (2001).

Following his father’s departure, Baker stopped attending school and began to make a name for himself by calling out elder classmates. In 2005, his father returned to take them both to Kuwait before the pair were forced back stateside to Cleveland, where Baker attended Shaker Heights High School.

In March 2009, while he was on the verge of getting evicted, Baker traveled to Harlem’s Apollo Theater, where he had consecutive victories, making him the first ever rapper to win at the Apollo Theater. He recorded music in his home studio which he refers to as the “Rage Cage”, and started to gain exposure when he was featured on MTV2’s Sucker Free Freestyle, where he freestyled numerous verses from his “Chip off the Block” single. In February 2010, he released his second mixtape 100 Words and Running, where he derived his catchphrase, “Lace Up”, which started as a mixtape interlude, before making it a prominent reference in his music. Despite his rising popularity, Baker found himself working at Chipotle to afford rent, as well as being kicked out by his father after graduating high school. Baker soon also became a father.

2009–2012: Record deal and Lace Up

In May 2010, he made his national debut with the single “Alice in Wonderland”, which was released on iTunes and accompanied a music video along with the song. It was released via Block Starz Music. The single earned Baker the “Best Midwest Artist” at the 2010 Underground Music Awards and his “Alice in Wonderland” clip won Best Music Video at the 2010 Ohio Hip-Hop Awards. He released his second mixtape in November 2010 titled Lace Up which featured the hometown anthem “Cleveland”, which was then played at Cleveland Cavaliers home games and went on rotation on Z107.9 in Cleveland. The mixtape was recorded in three months in 2010 during a creative burst. Following the release of the mixtape, he was featured in the magazine XXL in 2011. He then appeared on the Juicy J track “Inhale”, which also featured Steve-O from the television series Jackass, in the music video.

In March 2011, Baker participated in his first SXSW show in Austin, Texas, and at the show, he was approached by Sean Combs, who had offered Baker a recording contract with Bad Boy Records, which is associated with and has its content distributed by Interscope. Prior to the contract, he was featured on the XV song “Finally Home”.

Baker announced that his debut album would be titled Lace Up, and would have an intended release on October 9, 2012. “Wild Boy” served as the lead single for the album and the song peaked on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 98. It was soon certified gold by the RIAA. The song “Invincible” was released on iTunes on December 16, 2011, featuring co-writer and singer Ester Dean as the second single of the album. The song is featured in a commercial for the HTC ReZound as well as the official theme song of WrestleMania XXVIII. WWE also used the song to highlight John Cena in his match with at the event, with Baker also performing at WrestleMania prior to the main event. “Invincible” is also currently the theme for Thursday Night Football on the NFL network. WWE also used the song “All We Have” to again highlight Cena on his rematch with The Rock at next year’s event. On December 14, 2011, Baker was named the Hottest Breakthrough MC of 2011 by MTV. On March 18, 2012, Baker won the MTVu Breaking Woodie award before being featured on the cover of XXL as part of their annual “Top 10 Freshmen list” along with fellow rappers Macklemore, French Montana, Hopsin, Danny Brown, Iggy Azalea, Roscoe Dash, Future, Don Trip and Kid Ink. On August 13, 2012, Baker self-released a mixtape titled EST 4 Life, which contained both old and recently recorded material.

Lace Up was released on October 9, 2012. The album featured guest appearances from Bun B, Cassie, DMX, Ester Dean, Lil Jon, Tech N9ne, Twista, Waka Flocka Flame, Young Jeezy and Dub-O. The album debuted at number 4 on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 57,000 copies. It slid down to No. 22 in its second week, giving it a total of 65,000 copies sold. As of September 2015, the album has sold 263,000 copies.

2012–2013: Black Flag

In early 2012, Baker announced that he would be releasing a new mixtape. Pusha T and Meek Mill were the first artists to be featured on the mixtape, both appearing on the track “Pe$o”. Baker also announced that Wiz Khalifa will be featured on the mixtape. On February 18, 2013, Baker announced the name of the mixtape as Black Flag and revealed the cover. He also released a music video for “Champions” which features Diddy and samples The Diplomats song “We are the Champions”, as the music video release served as a promotional video for Black Flag. On June 26, Baker released Black Flag without prior announcement. The mixtape also featured guest appearances from French Montana, Kellin Quinn, Dub-O, Sean McGee and Tezo. On June 4, 2013, Baker posted a picture of a letter on his social media accounts which read:

This project is dedicated to love, because for my entire life it has been taken from me. Granted, when it was given, I pushed it right back. I couldn’t handle it. This was until I experienced the loss of love for what I love doing most: music. That was the one thing worth fighting for, even more-so then the love of my father. I’ve found that love again. And I plan on never surrendering it. Find what you love and fight!! Black Flag.

2014–2016: General Admission

Following the release of Black Flag, rumors surfaced that Baker had begun working on his second studio album. In January 2014, he confirmed that he was in the early stages of working on the album, with 2015 being the scheduled year of release. On January 5, 2015, Baker released the song “Till I Die”, which was accompanied with a music video on his VEVO account. Months later, a remix of “Till I Die” with hometown fellow hip-hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony was confirmed and released on June 5, 2015. The song aired via WorldStarHipHop and featured French Montana, Yo Gotti and Ray Cash. On May 18, 2015, the music video for another song titled “A Little More” was released, with the single featuring vocals from Victoria Monet. Baker soon had an interview with MTV, describing the reason as to why he wrote “A Little More”. Stating in the interview: “People always came up to me after the first album and a lot of my friends back home said ‘we need something for the streets’ and then I did Till I Die. Months later, when I look back at the video I like ‘Okay, he’s in jail, he’s shot, he’s dead, he snitched’ and just to the point where it’s sad and I wrote the song to describe how I see the world as a much mature person.” He also updated the status on his second studio album, noting that the album is finished, and stating that the album would contain “more lyricism and stylistically hip-hop but musically, sonically more live instrumentation.”

On June 25, Baker released the title of his second album as General Admission, due to be released in late September 2015.

2016–2018: Bloom and Binge

In February, Baker appeared at Fastlane, which was hosted at the Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland. Baker released “Bad Things” in late 2016, a joint single with Camila Cabello, which has reached a peak of number four on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Baker was going to be the opening act on the North American leg of Linkin Park’s One More Light Tour before the tour was cancelled due to Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington’s suicide. Baker would subsequently pay tribute to Bennington by releasing an acoustic cover of the Linkin Park song “Numb”.

On September 3, 2018, Baker released the song “Rap Devil”. The track was a response to Eminem’s diss track “Not Alike” off of his album Kamikaze. Playing on Eminem’s own “Rap God” single, the track accuses Eminem of trying to sideline Baker’s career after a comment Baker made in 2012 about Eminem’s teenage daughter, Hailie. Baker publicly stated on his Twitter account that on the response track he was “standing up for not just myself, but my generation. doing the same shit you did back in your day.” “Rap Devil” topped the iTunes Chart on September 10, 2018. On September 14, 2018, Eminem responded to “Rap Devil” with his own diss track, “Killshot”.

On September 21, 2018, Baker released the EP Binge, which had first week sales of 21,519 units and debuted at 24 on the Billboard 200.

2019–present: Hotel Diablo and Tickets to My Downfall

In April 2019, Billboard reported that Baker’s upcoming album would be titled Hotel Diablo. The first single, “Hollywood Whore”, was released on May 17, 2019. The second single, “El Diablo”, was released on May 31, 2019. On June 7, 2019, Baker released the third single, “I Think I’m Okay”, with Yungblud and Travis Barker. Hotel Diablo was released on July 5, 2019. On July 9, 2019, he released the official music video for “Candy” featuring Trippie Redd. He released the final single, “Glass House” featuring Naomi Wild on the same day. The album debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming his fourth top ten album.

In December 2019, Baker began teasing an upcoming project with Travis Barker producing, it was then later revealed that the album would be pop punk. On January 14, 2020, Baker announced the title of the project as Tickets to My Downfall, which was released on September 25, 2020. Three singles were released prior to the album’s release – “Bloody Valentine”, “Concert for Aliens”, and “My Ex’s Best Friend”.

Also in August 2020, Baker opened his own coffee house called 27 Club Coffee in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. On November 22, 2020, after his performance at the AMAs, Baker announced his album Tickets to My Downfall was going to be turned into a “first if it’s kind musical film experience” titled Downfalls High which will air in January 2021. Baker and Travis Barker are signed on to narrate the movie. On November 30, 2020, Yungblud announced on Twitter he’ll be releasing a new collaboration featuring Colson and Travis Barker titled “acting like that”.

On January 15, 2021, Baker released Downfalls High on his Facebook page followed by a release to YouTube on January 18. Directed by Baker and Mod Sun and narrated by Baker and Barker, the film stars Chase Hudson and Sydney Sweeney as teenage lovers in what Baker described as a “pop-punk  Grease“. Iann Dior, Phem, Jxdn, and Trippie Redd, also make appearances.

Acting career

Baker made his film debut in Beyond the Lights (2014), a romantic drama in which he played a “shallow, self-important” rapper named Kid Culprit. In 2016, he featured in four more films of various genres, including The Land, a Cleveland-set drama produced by fellow rapper Nas. In the same year, he had a recurring role on the Showtime comedy-drama series Roadies as Wes, a former Pearl Jam roadie. He played Felix in the Netflix film Bird Box (2018), and portrayed drummer Tommy Lee in The Dirt, a 2019 Netflix drama about Mötley Crüe.

Personal life

Baker has a daughter, Casie Colson Baker, born in July 2009.

He is open about his use of cannabis and has claimed in many interviews that he smokes daily, describing it as a “source of happiness and a way people can feel a little more love “. He has frequently mentioned cannabis references within sources of his music and rap persona, making it a forefront of both his rap and personal character. In November 2020, Baker revealed that he had formed an addiction for Adderall, and is seeking treatment.

Baker cites DMX and Eminem as music influences, as well as listening to rock bands Guns N’ Roses and Blink-182 during his youth. Baker cites these rap and rock artists as major musical influences. In an interview discussing his collaboration with DMX, Baker called the rapper his idol. He also stated that DMX’s music helped him through his troubles while growing up, especially bullying.

He identifies as an anarchist.

As of June 2020, he is dating actress Megan Fox.

Backing band

• AJ Tyus – guitar (2017–present)
• Steve “Baze” Basil – bass, keys (2017–present)
• Brandon “Slimxx” Allen – keys, backing vocals (2017–present)
• JP “Rook” Cappelletty – drums (2017–present)
• Travis Barker – drums (2019–present)

Discography

Studio albums

• Lace Up (2012)
• General Admission (2015)
• Bloom (2017)
• Hotel Diablo (2019)
• Tickets to My Downfall (2020)

Filmography

Film

For film roles, he is credited as Colson Baker unless otherwise noted.

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	Beyond the Lights	Kid Culprit	Credited as Colson ‘MGK’ Baker
2016	Punk’s Dead	Crash
	Nerve	Ty
	Viral	CJ
	The Land	Slick	Also co-executive producer
2018	Bird Box	Felix
2019	Big Time Adolescence	Nick
	Captive State	Jurgis
	The Dirt	Tommy Lee
2020	The King of Staten Island	Tattoo Shop Owner
	Project Power	Newt
TBA	Midnight in the Switchgrass		Post-production
TBA	One Way	Freddy

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012–15	WWE Raw	Himself	2 episodes
2013	Guy Court	Himself	Episode: “Sweepstakes”
2014	Unsung	Himself	Episode: “Bone Thugs-n-Harmony”
2015	Catfish	Himself	Episode: “Hundra & Emily”
2015	Ridiculousness	Himself	Episode: “Machine Gun Kelly”
2016	Roadies	Wesley “Wes” Mason	10 episodes

Internet

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2021	Downfalls High	Himself	Also co-director, executive producer