Machine Gun Kelly - Spotlight
“Spotlight” talks through a “What if” scenario examining all the trials and tribulations that MGK has gone through, questioning if it was worth the fame.
The track features Lzzy Hale, lead singer and guitarist of Pennsylvania hard-rock group Halestorm.
MGK exhibits that he is no stranger to rock flavors in his music, from being heavily influenced by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain to working with Avenged Sevenfold’s Synyster Gates on the intro from his debut album Lace Up.
The official music was released on March 21, 2016
Kells asks a series of rhetorical/hypothetical questions to get the mind thinking. The first question sets up the dark imagery in the following, involving drug abuse, violence, death, and abandonment. The hug is used as a symbol of love.
If people loved and cared for each other more, would living seem less enjoyable. Eminem hit on something similar involving the nature and care of parents in “Who Knew”:
But don’t blame me when little Eric jumps off of the terrace
You should’ve been watching him, apparently you ain’t parents
Kells is no stranger to abandonment, having be left by both of his at young age: his mom at nine and his dad kicked him out at eighteen. parents abandoned him and didn’t care much about him. He does more in depth about his mother and father in songs like “Story of the Stairs” and “Gone”.
“Spotlight” is the most appropriate album intro because being in the spotlight these past cou
Black suits and dresses are worn to funerals to express mourning. Having frequented many funerals growing up as a teenager, such as two open caskets of his friends while still in high school expresses Kells dark past.
An interesting contrast from the last question as Kell’s friend’s mother grieves over the loss of her biological son answers the question of parents caring. Sometimes even with the parent’s love and care, their child’s decision can lead to their demise. Now all she has left is the her son’s brother from another mother.
With all the recent violent acts of racist police officers attacking young black males (Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Ezell ford in more) have sparked riots in Ferguson and Baltimore. MGK makes his stance clear on racist police and how they’ve directly affected him.
ple of years is what inspired all of these demons to come to life. That was a big tool for my writing.
In this song, every line has it’s own story. Every sentence is really a paragraph. It’s kind of the outline for the album for everybody who’s about to listen.
“Spotlight” is the most appropriate album intro because being in the spotlight these past couple of years is what inspired all of these demons to come to life. That was a big tool for my writing.
In this song, every line has it’s own story. Every sentence is really a paragraph. It’s kind of the outline for the album for everybody who’s about to listen.
That was geared towards friends of mine that I’ve grown up with that still live at their parents’ house and live everyday not knowing if tomorrow’s gonna come. Hustling everyday. Cleveland is constantly becoming crazier—the real-life Gotham City. The only people you see making it are the motherfuckers getting football scholarships.
You’re telling me because I don’t know how to shoot this fucking basketball or throw this football, that I have to stay here? That was just one of those social issues: not speaking for myself, but speaking for everyone else in the community feeling hopeless. Athletes—that’s all people come to our city for.
That was geared towards friends of mine that I’ve grown up with that still live at their parents’ house and live everyday not knowing if tomorrow’s gonna come. Hustling everyday. Cleveland is constantly becoming crazier—the real-life Gotham City. The only people you see making it are the motherfuckers getting football scholarships.
You’re telling me because I don’t know how to shoot this fucking basketball or throw this football, that I have to stay here? That was just one of those social issues: not speaking for myself, but speaking for everyone else in the community feeling hopeless. Athletes—that’s all people come to our city for.
This is an extremely clever line as hard as it is for MGK to face the sun some days it’s equally as hard for his father to look at him and see Kell’s becoming him. He gets deeper with this imagery in “Gone.”
Five years to be more specific
I was out here trying to sign to Atlantic
You crossed the Pacific
…
That shit is crazy, half a decade with no explanation
Now you’re asking if it’s too late to save us
Six foot deep, six-foot-three
170 pounds is an average weight for Kell’s height. He may be skinny but he walks with extreme confidence.
Valium is medication, when overused can be dangerous. It’s one of the main drugs, notorious for causing Eminem’s drug addiction and setting him back years in his career. He even cancelled an entire European tour to check into rehab.
The production drowns out as the repetition follows. This is to highlight the effects that Valium has on disrupting the homeostasis of the brain.
This lifestyle leads to the death of something. How extreme the death is gonna be depends on the person. On a small scale: the death of privacy. Your face is out there, nobody’s gonna fuckin’ leave you alone.
Death of friendships: You lose friends because people think they’re owed something. They see you gettin’ it and they don’t realize that money doesn’t magically fall out the air just cause you’re famous.
On an extreme scale, take the Amy Winehouses or the Kurt Cobains. Fame could be the death of you. I feel like some of my soul has fucking died in this fucking industry.
This lifestyle leads to the death of something. How extreme the death is gonna be depends on the person. On a small scale: the death of privacy. Your face is out there, nobody’s gonna fuckin’ leave you alone.
Death of friendships: You lose friends because people think they’re owed something. They see you gettin’ it and they don’t realize that money doesn’t magically fall out the air just cause you’re famous.
On an extreme scale, take the Amy Winehouses or the Kurt Cobains. Fame could be the death of you. I feel like some of my soul has fucking died in this fucking industry.
That was a real scenario, the .40 Glock next to the orange plastic prescription bottles.
I was speaking on opiates. Prescription drugs, but the downers. The shit when you induce or snort and you’re dazed.
The peer pressure part comes in when everyone around you is doing the same thing.
That was a real scenario, the .40 Glock next to the orange plastic prescription bottles.
I was speaking on opiates. Prescription drugs, but the downers. The shit when you induce or snort and you’re dazed.
The peer pressure part comes in when everyone around you is doing the same thing.
“Living life in the fast lane” is phrase that describes having extreme amounts of fun with some type of risk. His life is so exciting (partying, touring, etc), he loses track of time; to the point he feels like he’s living 2 days at a time. As he said on “Bad Mother Fucker”:
Do not get it twisted, this is not an image
There are legends told about the nights I’m in the buildings
Kell’s has had the same team (roughly) since he came up from CLE similar to how Ari Gold, played by Jeremy Piven, is part of Vincent Chase’s entourage as a friend and manager on the popular TV show Entourage
This was the last line of Kurt Cobain’s Suicide Note:
Thank you all from the pit of my burning, nauseous stomach for your letters and concern during the past years. I’m too much of an erratic, moody baby! I don’t have the passion anymore, and so remember, it’s better to burn out than to fade away
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Frances Bean Cobain spoke on what it was like growing up without her father:
“I would have had a dad. And that would have been an incredible experience.”
She also hit on something MGK mentioned earlier in this verse:
Even if I was in a car and had the radio on, there’s my dad. He’s larger than life and our culture is obsessed with dead musicians. We love to put them on a pedestal.
Devoid of her father committing suicide, Frances still had a pretty well off life modeling, acting, and as artist. Kell’s wonders if his daughter would have a similar lifestyle progressed by his previous days of fame. could spoil Cassie his daughter was dying?
This is an interesting turn from the end of first verse. Where Kells was brave and defiant and willing to challenge the spotlight, he now gets emotional, resorting to drugs and loud music to drown out his pain.
He took to Hot.97 and spoke about the fame aspect of being an artist and how it makes him feel:
MGK isn’t copying any rap legends in Hip-Hop like 2Pac, Eminem, or Jay Z’s way of rapping and this is his own unique flow and delivery.
Eminem’s fourth studio album, The Eminem Show, invited you into his life. Kells is doing the same thing with General Admission. By listening or purchasing the album, you are attending a play of Kell’s life.