The recent feud between rapper-turned-pop-punker Machine Gun Kelly and Slipknot singer Corey Taylor has seemingly been one of the most unlikely beefs of 2021. Then again, when taking a look at MGK’s career trajectory and impending album release schedule, it actually makes a lot of sense.
Back in the early 2010s, MGK first came into the spotlight as an upstart rapper out of Cleveland who caught the attention of Bad Boy Records label head Sean Combs. Despite never becoming a household name, his first three albums landed in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 and were eventually certified Gold.
A 2018 feud with hip-hop legend Eminem gave MGK more of a mainstream presence, as they traded diss tracks back-and-forth as part of a high-profile beef that picked back up in 2020. Following a recent move into pop-punk territory with 2020’s Tickets to My Downfall, Machine Gun Kelly has entered into a new feud with a veteran rocker: Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor.
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Dating back to February with a quote in which Taylor called out “artists who failed in one genre and decided to go rock,” the beef spilled onto the stage when MGK used his set at Chicago’s Riot Fest to respond. The feud spread onto social media next, and even led to Machine Gun Kelly being booed at a festival performance where Slipknot wasn’t even in the lineup.
The timing of MGK’s diss is worth noting. In August, he announced Born with Horns, his follow-up to Tickets to My Downfall with Blink-182’s Travis Barker. There’s never a better time to kick off a feud than an album release cycle.
To help break down the feud, Consequence has rounded up a 2021 timeline of key events between Machine Gun Kelly and Corey Taylor. Check it out below.
