"Rap Devil" is a

diss track A diss track, diss record or diss song (diss – abbr. from ''disrespect'') is a song whose primary purpose is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feud between the ...

performed by American rapper

Machine Gun Kelly George Kelly Barnes (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known by his pseudonym "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thomps ...

. The song is aimed at American rapper

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

. The song was produced by

Ronny J Ronald Oneil Spence, Jr. (born September 14, 1992), professionally known as Ronny J (formerly stylized as RONNYJLI$TENUP), is an American record producer, singer, rapper, and songwriter. He has worked with well-known artists such as Denzel Curr ...

and Nils. It was released on September 3, 2018, by

Bad Boy Records Bad Boy Records (or Bad Boy Entertainment) is an American record label founded in 1993 by rapper Sean "Puffy" Combs. It operates as an imprint of Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. It has been home to many artists, including ...

and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

, as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the rapper's second

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

Binge Binge or Binges may refer to: Behavior Binge, a behavior engaged in excessively over a short period of time, such as: * Binge drinking * Binge eating * Binge-watching Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Binge'' (EP), a 2018 EP by Machine Gun Kell ...

''. The song's title is a play on

's "

Rap God "Rap God" is a song by American rapper Eminem. The song premiered via YouTube on October 14, 2013, and was released in the United States on October 15, 2013, as the third single from Eminem's eighth studio album, ''The Marshall Mathers LP 2'' (2 ...

", and is his response to Eminem's song "

Not Alike "Not Alike" is a song by American rapper Eminem featuring fellow American rapper Royce da 5'9" from the former's tenth studio album ''Kamikaze (Eminem album), Kamikaze'' (2018). It has reached the top 40 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Swede ...

". It peaked at number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart in the United States. It also peaked at number 1 on the US

iTunes Chart iTunes () is a software program that acts as a Media player (software), media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, ...

Background and release

In 2012, Machine Gun Kelly tweeted about Eminem's daughter, Hailie Mathers: "Ok, so I just saw a picture of Eminem's daughter... and I have to say, she is hot as fuck, in the most respectful way possible cuz Em is king". At the time, Hailie was 16 years old and MGK was 22 years old. In an interview in 2015, MGK said about the tweet: "Pictures of ailiehad came out, and I'm like, what, 20 years old, 21 at the time? I said 'She's beautiful, but all respect due. Eminem is king. What's wrong with that? Is there a 15-year age gap where I'm a creep for that? I was 21, dawg. Certain people took it, and ran with it and hyped it up." In a 2018 interview, Machine Gun Kelly said he did not know how old Hailie was and had reacted after seeing a headline about her saying she was all grown up. Machine Gun Kelly claims that years ago, while he did not speak to Eminem directly, he did speak with Eminem's manager and agreed to delete the tweet. Eminem then banned him from going to

Shade 45 Shade 45 is American rapper Eminem's hip-hop station on Sirius XM Satellite Radio, Sirius XM Radio channel 45 and Dish Network channel 6045. History Eminem established his own channel, Shade 45, that plays uncut Hip hop music, hip hop. Eminem al ...

, a radio station owned by Eminem. MGK also collaborated on a song with

Tech N9ne Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two m ...

and allegedly sent subliminal insults towards Eminem. On August 31, 2018, Eminem released a surprise album, ''

Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

'', on which he insulted several artists in multiple diss tracks, including the song "

", where he insulted MGK specifically.

Response

In an interview, when asked if he thought the song was a good diss track by Machine Gun Kelly, Eminem stated "it's not bad for him". Eminem then released a response diss track, " Killshot", on September 14, 2018. The official audio track on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

has 441.8 million views (as of 13th November, 2022). On "Killshot", Eminem refers to Machine Gun Kelly as a " mumble rapper". Eminem's "Killshot" harshly affected Kelly's career as a rapper.

Music video

A music video for the song was released on

WorldStarHipHop WorldStarHipHop is a content-aggregating video blog. Zurawik, David.Worldstarhiphop.com makes a name for itself with shocking viral videos". ''The Baltimore Sun''. March 23, 2012. Retrieved on April 22, 2012Alternate link to the same article fro ...

's YouTube channel and website on September 3, 2018. As of April 16th, 2022, the video stands at 347 million views.

Personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. *

– composition, vocals, recording, engineering *

– composition, production *Nils – composition, production *Steve "Rock Star" Dickey – mixing *

Tony Dawsey Tony Dawsey is an American mastering engineer at Masterdisk in New York City. He has been active since 1980.List of notable diss tracks The following is a list of diss tracks, songs the primary purpose of which is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Traditional recordings YouTube These diss tracks are known for their distribution via the YouTube platfo ...

References

{{Authority control 2018 songs 2018 singles Diss tracks Machine Gun Kelly (musician) songs Songs written by Machine Gun Kelly (musician) Songs written by Ronny J Bad Boy Records singles Interscope Records singles Eminem Song recordings produced by Ronny J