Eminem Has Regrets Over ‘Revival,’ and Isn’t Backing Down From His Beef With Machine Gun Kelly

There’s a new trend in rap: An embattled artist releases an album, faces considerable scorn and decides to host their own interview or radio show to explain away the controversy. It’s supposed to be eye-opening and candid, but usually comes off as simple PR maneuvering. Earlier this year, Kanye West sat down with Charlamagne Tha God to discuss his support of President Trump and journey dealing with mental illness. Nicki Minaj’s Queen Radio is an entire platform devoted to the Pinkprint rapper denouncing her critics, rivals, and enemies.  And on Wednesday, Eminem released an interview with Sway on his YouTube channel to express regrets for last year’s Revival, explain why he can take “constructive criticism” — but not too much constructive criticism — and the reasoning behind dissing Machine Gun Kelly in 2018.

“It’s not like I can’t take constructive criticism, but I feel like it kinda went beyond constructive criticism,” Em shared. “So I had to go back to it, and look, I have made albums that definitely, probably would not be at the top of my list, Encore, Relapse, which I believe Encore is a better album than Relapse…I always say that without Relapse, I wouldn’t have been able to make Recovery. If it wasn’t for Revival, I wouldn’t have been able to make [Kamikaze].”

In a teaser for part two of the interview, Eminem delves into why he initially threw a shot at MGK on Kamikaze.

“You know you go down a fucking wormhole of YouTube and whatever, right?” Em explains. “So I see, ‘Machine Gun Kelly talks about Eminem’s daughter’ or whatever, right? So I’m like, ‘What the fuck?’ I click on it. Then he starts doing a press run, basically, about Hailie. I’m like, ‘What the fuck? Yo, my man better chill, right?’ So, that’s not why I dissed him. The reason I dissed him is actually a lot more petty than that. Now I’m in this fuckin’ weird thing, because I’m like, ‘I gotta answer this motherfucker.’”

On “Not Alike,” the Detroit rapper spit, “I’m talkin’ 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 commentin’ on my daughter Hailie.” In 2012, MGK tweeted that Eminem’s daughter was “hot as fuck.” Since then, he’s claimed Mathers has tried to blackball him from the industry. In response, to Em’s latest barbs Kelly released “Rap Devil” in early September. The scathing track finds the Cleveland MC going at his former idol’s beard, discography, and ego.