With a rapid fire delivery and boundless energy some people may be quick to compare Cleveland's Machine Gunn Kelly with another white mc, Yelawolf.
But the 6-3 lanky rapper says he got his inspiration from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, the 1st rappers to put his city on the map.
"They were the reason I tried rapping fast," MGK tells Cleveland.com
Kelly, born Colson Baker bounced around for much of his younger life. Living in Houston, Egypt, Chicago, Los Angeles and Denver, MGK planted his feet firmly in Cleveland six years ago and plans to bring the city back to hip hop prominence.
"I waited a long time to feel like I was part of something," he says. "Cleveland is just like me -- an underdog. To be able to do something here and to be appreciated so much, it's nuts."
The 20 year old describes his rhyme style as "raging... which is basically nonstop energy,"
With his newly released mixtape "Lace Up" and a rapidly growing fan base, MGK is making all the right moves, although he's suffered a couple of bumps and bruises along the way.
"I didn't listen to hip-hop until I moved to Denver. In fourth grade, I moved to a predominantly black school. I got my ass whupped," he says.
He started to earn his stripes through battle rapping: "I was a skinny boy. Whose ass was I gonna whup? But I found out that words are more powerful than anything, and I ran with that."
Check out his music video for "Cleveland" below. You can grab his "Lace Up" mixtape from his website www.mgklaceup.com.
While Cam'ron says the Diplomats haven't yet found a label home for their reunion album, they're still working together and have almost 10 new songs in the can.
"It's a few people that's been getting at us, but the money's not really where we want it to be," Killa Cam told MTV News about label negotiations. "So we'd rather distribute it ourselves until somebody comes with the right amount of money. Jim is using the 'Salute' record as his single, so we'll build off of that. But basically, with the Diplomat thing, everybody is gonna do it, but we got obligations."
Cam'ron was also quick to point out that everyone is on speaking terms, but they all have records they're working on outside of the Dipset project as well.
"Jim got his album he definitely gotta turn in," he said. "[Me and Vado] got this Gunz and Butta thing. Juelz is putting his album together. Nobody wants to stop where they already have contracts and obligations, but we working too. We got eight, nine songs done."
Cam, Juelz, Freekey Zekey and Jim Jones recently released the song "Salute." Cam said Jones spearheaded their first song together in years.
"Jim's got a good work ethic too. His work ethic is crazy," Cam explained. "He's in the studio all the time. I'm in the studio. The producer AraabMuzik is signed to DukeDaGod. Araab went and took Jim some beats. I already had the beat [for 'Salute']. Jim said, 'Let's do something to this.' We got it done.
"It wasn't no big story behind it," Cam added. "He sent me the record, I did it. He went to Juelz's studio, I knocked it out. Jim comes by my crib where the studio at. We sit down for two, three hours, and we go in the basement and knock the songs out. I'm not gonna sit here and act like some spaceship landed or a boat docked. Jim comes by the house, we go in the basement, we smoke, do the song, that's it. We go back in another two, three days and do the same thing."
While there's no concrete date for the Diplomats album, Killa says his and Vado's LP Gunz and Butta should be out around September 28, with a mixtape from the two dropping first. On the album's cover, you see Cam and Vado dressed in suits, standing in a boardroom with the New York skyline behind them.
"At the end of the day, we just hanging on the block, so you see we dressed like whatever," Cam said of the Gunz and Butta cover. "When it's time to get corporate, we'll throw on that suit and tie and go to the penthouse, have a roundtable meeting. We know how to balance the beam. We know how to get street, but we know how to get cleaned up also. That's why we named the album Gunz and Butta, just to let you know: We know our balance."
Things are coming together nicely again for Cam'Ron.
The Dipset reunion is complete now that Cam and Dipset Capo have reconciled their differences. To make it official Cam, Juelz Santana and Jim released a new track titled "Salute" a couple of weeks ago.
Now according to AllHipHop, Killa is about to release a new album titled 'Gunz N' Butta'. The album will feature heavy contributions from Cam protege and fellow Harlem native Vado, who co-wrote the album.
"It’s our first album and I promise it’s so much of a classic,” Vado told AllHipHop. “It’s like all the Boss of all Bosses tapes put together. We hit y’all from all angles—we hit y’all from the streets, for the ladies, for the club… It’s five stars, man."
Expect a video real soon for the lead single, "Speaking In Tungs".
The album is set to drop August 31, followed by Vado's highly anticipated mixtape, 'Swine Flu.
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