“Killshot” by Eminem
“Killshot” is a diss song by the iconic American hip hop recording artist Eminem. The song is purely in response to the diss song “Rap Devil” by fellow rapper Machine Gun Kelly.
In “Rap Devil“, MGK made fun of a number of things about Eminem, including his “ugly” beard and his “old” age. About a week after MGK released “Rap Devil”, Eminem responded viciously with “Killshot”. The brutal lyrics of the song see Eminem do nothing but take numerous vicious shots at MGK – his primary target.
Disses Eminem heaps on Machine Gun Kelly in “Killshot”
Below are some of the interesting shots Eminem takes at MGK in this track:
Mocks MGK’s man bun
In his song “Rap Devil”, MGK had mocked Eminem for being named after a candy. Contrary to popular belief, Eminem didn’t get his name from chocolate candy M&Ms. He got it from his initials “M” for Marshall and “M” for Mathers. In this track, Eminem mocks MGK by asking him how he could name himself “after a damn gun and have a man bun”.
He (Eminem) is old but outsells young MGK
MGK earlier used Em’s age to mock him. However, Eminem tells him that he (Eminem) might be 45 but still outsells MGK. He goes on to tell MGK that by the time he (Eminem) was his age, he had released three successful albums.
“I’m 45 and I’m still outselling you
By 29 I had three albums that had blew”
Em goes on to say that he’d rather be an 80-year-old him than a 20-year-old MGK.
There are several other interesting shots Em fires at MGK in this song. However, most of them are so offensive, we find it difficult publishing them here.
Compares Machine Gun Kelly to the character Stan
In the song, Eminem compares MGK to the character Stan from his 2000 hit single “Stan”. Stan is a mentally unstable fan of Eminem who is totally obsessed with Eminem and everything about him. Stan’s intense obsession with Eminem ends with him killing himself and his pregnant girlfriend.
“Here’s that autograph for your daughter, I wrote it on a Starter cap
Stan, Stan, son”
In the line above from “Killshot”, Eminem basically calls MGK Stan. In so doing, he likens MGK’s obsession with him to the crazy obsession Stan had for him. FYI: The first line is borrowed from the lyrics of “Stan”.
Interestingly, prior to the feud, MGK was a huge fan of Eminem. He looked up to him and even tried copying his style.
Accuses Diddy of killing Tupac
In the course of attacking MGK, Eminem did something quite interesting and controversial. He accused Diddy (Sean John Combs) of putting out the hit that killed famed rapper Tupac. Below are the lyrics from “Killshot” in which Em accuses Diddy of Tupac’s murder:
“The day you put out a hit is the day Diddy admits he put out the hit that got Pac killed”
What Eminem is basically saying in the highly controversial line above is that the only time Machine Gun Kelly can ever release a hit song is the day Diddy finally confesses to murdering Tupac. And since Diddy will never do that, MGK will never be able to make a hit song.
Apparently knowing the controversy the accusation was going to cause, Eminem used the song’s outro to address Diddy. In addressing the rap mogul, he told him that he’s “just playing” and that he loves him.
Despite stating he was kidding, hours after “Killshot” was released, rapper Jay Electronica wasted no time slamming Eminem on Twitter for accusing Diddy of killing Tupac.
Insults Iggy Azalea
Em not only stepped on Diddy’s toes in the course of dissing Machine Gun Kelly in this track but he also stepped on those of rapper Iggy Azalea. What did Em say to Iggy? He name dropped her and referred to her as a “h*” in the line: “that Iggy h*”. And as expected, Iggy didn’t take too kindly to that. She therefore wasted no time also slamming Em on Twitter and referring to Em’s bars as “lazy bars”.
Below is one of the multiple tweets Iggy Azalea made in response to Eminem mentioning her in his diss track:
Mentions several other Celebrities
Iggy Azalea and Diddy are not the only celebrities Eminem mentions in “Killshot”. Some other famous names he mentions include the following: Rihanna, Swayze, Lil Tay, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Biggie, Ja Rule, Benzino, Halsey, G-Eazy and Joe Budden.
Facts about “Killshot”
- This diss track was penned solely by Eminem.
- Noted music producer Illa da Producer solely handled the song’s production.
- “Killshot” was officially released on September 14, 2018.
- Many have referred to this track as one of Eminem’s most vicious diss tracks as well as one of the best diss tracks of all time.
- Over the years, there have been an iconic rap feud. The feud between Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly can be classified into this category.
- The song’s artwork in itself attacks MGK. The artwork shows a cartoon of the face of MGK inside of the scope of a weapon. In the picture, each of MGK’s eyes is covered by a red X.
The artwork of the single “Killshot”.
Does “Killshot” have an official music video?
The song wasn’t released along with a music video. It’s currently not clear if Eminem and his team will release a music video of the song in future.
Has Machine Gun Kelly responded to “Killshot”?
Barely 24 hours after Eminem dropped this diss track, MGK took to Twitter to hit back at him. In his Twitter post, he mocked Eminem by saying he took “2 Weeks and 3 interviews” to respond to “Rap Devil”. Apparently, he is trying to say Eminem took too long to respond, which he finds unimpressive.
As if that wasn’t enough, he uploaded a picture of the panel of judges from the American TV series Dancing with the Stars. In the picture, each judge gave Eminem a score of 6/10 for his efforts on “Killshot”. Basically, MGK was mocking him. Below is MGK’s full tweet responding to Em’s “Killshot”:
Is this the first time Eminem and IllaDaProducer have worked together?
No. Illa da Producer (whose real name is Ray Illya Fraser) has worked with Eminem before. For example, multiple tracks on his 2018 album Kamikaze. Some of these tracks include “The Ringer” and “Lucky You“.
Does this track appear on the album Kamikaze?
No, it doesn’t. It was released about two weeks after Kamikaze came out.
How did Eminem’s feud with Machine Gun Kelly begin in the first place?
It started a number of years ago (in 2012 to be precise) when MGK made certain comments about Eminem’s daughter Hailie, which Eminem felt was very offensive. And what were these offensive comments? We hear you ask again. MGK had stumbled across a picture of Hailie online and said she was “hot as F—“.
It apparently took Eminem some years to hear these comments. And when he did, he mercilessly attacked MGK on his 2018 track “Not Alike”. That track can be found on his album Kamikaze.
He didn’t get his name from candy, his initials are M and M, that’s the best jab you could get in, and you do an analysis of the line about the man bun? It’s said in irony, because MGK had the lines about his beard and age. Few bars later he asks to see who can have the corniest line. He also mentions towards the end that he doesn’t know how he’s supposed to battle with these mumble rappers. Referring to how simplistic and basic that genre of music is, especially in comparison to the complexity of a track like killshot
That picture MGK tweeted about back then? Eminem daughter was 14. In Kamakazee Eminem says “and you already know the f– you ARE Kelly”
R Kelly got in trouble with a 14 yr old girl
“think you’ve got me the scope, you’ve just grazed me. One call to interscope you’re Schwayzed”
This goes with the message Eminem has already given that when ever someone is involved with Eminem, they blow up for 15 minutes of fame and then dissappear. Schwayze is a rapper that had a couple of mid level chart hits early in his career and hasn’t put out a hit since. Just like when he says the only lists you will be on is people who’s careers are ended by Eminem, also implying he won’t ever be at the top charts or someone’s top 5 rappers list.
Just like the later lines
“… pop Champagne to this! (pop)
It’s your moment
This is it, as big as you’re gonna get, so enjoy it
Had to give you a career to destroy it”
MGK had tweeted him popping a bottle in celebration of Eminem mentioning his name in Kamakazee. Because everyone always gets publicity when Eminem mentions their name
. MGK is actually a huge fan boy of Eminem and has been trying to meet him most of his life. A ton of old social media posts have surfaced since, showing how many times he tagged Eminem and made mention of being a huge fan and wanting to meet him. Tying into the Stan references in the song
Back to the interscope lyric.
Maybe instead he meant Swayze’d. As is Patric Swayze who is famous for playing the lead role in Ghost. Which would imply the same message that MGK will dissappear, or that he will die. (the scope and grazing portrays MGKs bars as bullets that missed and the track is called killshot) or maybe he said it knowing they both would apply and people could interpret it either way.
Not done with that one lyric yet, Ready for this one? the diss track dropped on the anniversary of Patric Swayzes death.
What was that about lazy bars iggy? and because of that one little name drop and her tweet she’s getting her 15 minutes of spotlight now too. When’s the last time anyone was talking about her?
MGKs response about two weeks is laughable as well considering the actual reason for the date it was released. Making a fool out of himself by calling the track weak while in the process showing that the lyrics went over his head as well.
Not only is the track layered with complexity that flew over most people’s heads, he also is picking apart the entire MGK diss line by line throughout the track in the same order MGK said them. Towards the end he has an impressive ryhme that ends with a reference to a machine gun being no good if it’s out of ammo. Meaning he just countered or invalidated everything MGK had, and he knows he has nothing left to come back with.
That’s a fraction of the breakdown and analysis required to understand how good this track was.
But you could only analyze what you did because of the profanity in the lyrics? ?
Hi Adams, thanks for shedding some more light on Eminem’s “Killshot”. Your contributions are highly appreciated.
Adams you’r better than Stan…… ???????
Wow dude thanks for giving the spotlight for ma favorite rapper
Aswell as this is a fairly hidden thing as you really have to read between the lines, but there was a movie in 2008 called Killshot, in which 2 assassins/hitmen go after a couple with the last name Colson, which is MGKs real name.
The guy who killed colson in killshot movie was Marshall many layers to the bars
Adam you’re good lyrics breakdown
I got no analysis, but should say that after reading what was posted here by all you folks, MGK should have not released his Diss track in the first place or better yet he should have kept his mouth shut after Slim’s response. Clearly MGK understood none of this. Eminem didn’t diss MGK. Eminem responded to MGK’s track and tore it apart, even invalidating some of the thing – like the 4 (or 3) albums issue
Clearly, this shows that you shouldn’t mess with Eminem.