"When your idols become your rivals"

Machine Gunn Kelly has responded to Eminem’s diss of him by issuing one of his own with a new track.

Last week, (August 31), Eminem criticised the rapper on track ‘Not Alike’ from his surprise new album, ‘Kamikaze.’

The feud dates back to 2012 over comments Machine Gun Kelly made about Eminem’s daughter on social media, tweeting that she was “hot as fuck.”

Since the comments, Machine Gun Kelly alleged that he was banned from various media outlets and in a freestyle with the LA Lakers he rapped: “I’m my favourite rapper alive since my favourite rapper banned me from Shade 45.” Before the feud, Machine Gun Kelly often cited Eminem as one of his greatest influences.

On ‘Not Alike’, Eminem hit back saying: “Now you wanna come and fuck with me, huh? / This little cock-sucker, he must be feeling himself / He wants to keep up his tough demeanour, so he does a feature / Decided to team up with Nina.”

He goes on: “But next time you don’t gotta use Tech N9ne if you wanna come at me with a sub-machine gun/And I’m talking to you but you already know who the fuck you are, Kelly/I don’t use sublims and sure as fuck don’t sneak-diss/But keep commenting on my daughter Hailie.”

Now, Machine Gun Kelly has hit back on his latest track ‘Rap Devil’ in what is seemingly a veiled reference to Eminem’s track ‘Rap God’.

On the track, Machine Gun Kelly claims Eminem only came up with the track because he’s “sober and bored” whilst also telling him to get over the comments he made in 2012. He also criticises Eminem’s albums, rapping: “Still can’t cover up the fact the last four albums as bad as your selfie.”

The rapper hints back to his previous allegations saying: “Let’s ask Interscope how you had Paul Rosenberg trying to shelf me” and “Let’s call Sway ask why he can’t go up to Shade 45 because of you.”

He also directly addresses Eminem saying “Now tell me what do you stand for?” and “I know you can’t stand yourself.”

Machine Gun Kelly was just one of many artists Eminem took aim at on his new album, with Drake, Migos and Tyler the Creator all receiving criticism from the Detroit rapper.

However, Eminem’s song ‘Fall’, on which Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon also appears, was heavily criticised on social media because of the homophobic criticism he levelled at Tyler the Creator. Eminem raps: “Tyler create nothin’, I see why you called yourself a f*****, bitch.”

Vernon responded to the track on Twitter saying he was “Not a fan of the message, it’s tired. Asked them to change the track, wouldn’t do it.”

In a series of further tweets, Vernon said he thought Eminem is “one of the best rappers of all time” before adding: “This is not the time to criticize Youth, it’s the time to listen. To act. It is certainly not the time for slurs.”

Vernon also revealed that he asked for the song to be changed. “Wish they would have listened when we asked them to change it.” In a final tweet, Vernon said: “I was wrong and we are gonna kill this track.” The album seems to have proved divisive among fans, with many unhappy at the number of criticisms.

Reviewing ‘Kamikaze’, NME wrote: “Eminem is not happy. We know because he tells us, in the opening seconds of ‘Kamikaze’, like he’s psyching himself up: “I feel like I want to punch the world in the fucking face right now.”