Review Summary: Machine Gun Kelly's mix-tape, Lace Up, without a doubt, is one to go down in my history books. It gives listeners a good look into the Cleveland rappers mind and into his life.
Hearing Machine Gun Kelly, you may think of one of two things. The criminal mastermind or the "wild boy" artist. But in either case, you're wrong;half way anway. Machine Gun Kelly, or also known as, MGK, is a while rapper from Cleveland, Ohio. If you were to hear about MGK, now-a-days, you're more likely to hear about his wild boy persona rather than his deep-felt emotional side. This might be due to his November release of his song "Wild Boy" featuring Waka Flaka Flame and his recent run in with the law. But take it back to 2010 and you're likely to find MGK's emotional side with just a pinch of wild boy in it on his mix-tape "Lace Up"
The opening song, Salute, is a fighting song. It's MGK showing us that he's back and he's ready to fight to get to the top. Not only does he say it in his lyrics:
"Heroes are remembered
Legends never die
I ain't dying any time soon"
but the instrumental aspects of the song could get a football team pumped up. The main message of the song is MGK saying he's here and he's here to stay and from the sounds of the rest of the mixtape, this stands true. The songs "Chip off the block", "Midwest Side", and "Cleveland" follow this notion.
As for the rest of the 12 songs off the 16 track mixtape, the Cleveland proud rapper shows us his more deep-felt emotional side but in a hard-core rapper way. The song "End of The Road" paves the way for this side of MGK. With soft piano rifts to start the song and Mat Musto backing him up with vocals and balancing out the song with his pop punk raspy voice, it's a clear standout track off of the entire mixtape, and one of my personal favorites. Without dipping his feet in too far, MGK touches the fine line of pop cultured beats and sounds but still keeps to his street roots that got him this far.
