Machine Gun Kelly, or mgk, has discussed his relationship with his father, who was tried for the murder of his own father, and the effect it’s had on his life.
The rapper-turned-pop-punk-turned country star, real name Colson Baker, was speaking on the Dumb Blonde podcast when he began talking about his dad, who died on July 5, 2020. Kelly was born in Houston, Texas, but his parents were Christian missionaries and so he moved around the world as a child – he learned to speak Arabic before English due to living in Egypt as a toddler, and also spent time in Kenya and Germany.
Machine Gun Kelly told host Bunnie XO – the wife of rapper and country singer Jelly Roll – that, “In my situation with my father, he was so tormented from some of the most insane shit that I can imagine a kid can go through.
Describing his mother as more stoic, he continued: “The emotional side of things I get from my father, who was very, you know, he wore everything on his sleeve. His depression was very obvious; his need for love was very [obvious]. I wish I could’ve told him before he died that I was really inspired by how emotional he was. I thought that was very cool in hindsight because I am very emotional, too.”
He shared that he used to get “mad” at his dad because he’d “freak out” if he heard a loud noise or if his son scared him. “I would be like, ‘You’re supposed to be a man, dude. Why are you acting like this?’ and it made me hate him.
“And then you sit there and you think about a kid who was on trial at nine years old for the murder of his father, and knowing that the police found the shotgun underneath the bed.”
He added: “The story that was always told me was that their dad dropped the gun and his head essentially blew off. All happened in the room with my dad at nine years old. So him and my grandmother were tried for the murder. They were both acquitted.”
Also in the podcast, Kelly brought up his relationship with his mother, who left the family when he was nine years old, at which point he and his father went to Denver, Colorado, to live with his aunt. He said: “I would like to say for the record, I love my mom dearly and I misrepresented her a lot early in my career. And not misrepresented in the sense of not speaking truth. I was speaking my truth, but I didn’t give the masses the chance to understand her truth.”
While he spoke of the hurt caused by her not finding him after she left the family, the two have since reconciled.
Meanwhile, Kelly shared ‘Lonely Road’ a collaboration with Jelly Roll, last month.