S. Samuel
Bad Boy Records CEO Diddy may not have signed West Coast newcomer Kreayshawn over the summer, however, the music mogul has officially inked Cleveland up-and-comer Machine Gun Kelly to his iconic label.
Breaking the news via an announcement video, Kelly talked about coming from nothing to something.
“Today, I signed my first record deal,” Kelly said in an announcement video. “See, this might be the first time a lot of you even heard the name Machine Gun Kelly. But to me, my team and my fans, it’s been a long time coming. In just the past three years, me and my friends have gone from being able to share our dream with 15 people to living it in front of 15,000. See, I’m a 21 year-old kid from Cleveland, Ohio who truly started from the basement. And it wasn’t even my basement. It was a studio that we built in my manager’s mom’s spot…I had a daughter on the way, dropped out of college and got fired from my fastfood job all when I was 18. So I was just like, ‘F*ck it.’ Drove nine hours to New York City and made history by becoming the first rapper to ever win an amateur night at the world famous Apollo Theater.” (Machine Gun Kelly Announcement)
The video also shows Kelly officially inking to Bad Boy/Interscope alongside Puffy.
“This is Machine Gun Kelly, Puff Daddy, lace the f*ck up,” Kelly said in the video following his signing to Bad Boy/Interscope. “After we signed the deal, the big homie, P. Diddy, does what he does, takes me to Quiznos. You feel me?” (Machine Gun Kelly Announcement)
West Coast rapper Kreayshawn recently talked about turning down Diddy’s Bad Boy offer.
“He hit me and he was mad about the whole signing thing. He was like, ‘Yo, I wanted to work with you, blah, blah blah,’ ” Kreayshawn recalled. The upstart rapper went on to reveal an amusing tidbit to the Bad Boy mogul. “Honestly, I’ve always had a picture of you next to me and my kindergarten picture,” Kreay recalled telling him. “I always put it on my wall, and I tell people, ‘That’s my dad. P. Diddy’s my dad.’ And he was like, ‘Yo, I have to adopt you.'” (MTV)
Kelly is most known for building a buzz in his Cleveland hometown.
While his rap name may suggest something sinister, Machine Gun Kelly, actually earned his moniker from his ability to rattle off rapid-fire rhymes. The Cleveland, Ohio native, who has been rapping since 2004, has took his hometown and then surrounding cities by storm thanks to his mixtape grind and spirited live performances. He’s since toured with Big Sean and Travis Porter. Kelly has gotten so popular in the mid-west that the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers have been playing MGK’s hometown anthem “Cleveland” at home games during this basketball season. (XXL Mag)
Check out Machine Gun Kelly signing to Bad Boy Records below:
