6/10
Favorite Track: "El Diablo" Least Favorite Track: "Floor 13"
In 2019 it truly isn’t hard to be overlooked in the rap game despite how lyrical, creative, or talented one might be. Up until about a year ago I would of put Machine Gun Kelly into that category. His output always seemed to feature some somewhat rocky songwriting but lyrically his talent was consistently overlooked. The kid can rap. As of late however, with his extremely publicized beef with Eminem as well as some notable roles in films such as Dirt and BirdBox, that has seemed to fade away a bit. So with his forthcoming studio album; Hotel Diablo, the stakes were as high as they have ever been for MGK. With that being said, I think Hotel Diablo can sort of be seen as a return to form for the Ohio native. This thing is more hip hop than his previous two projects have been, but it also weaves in some clever elements of rock and pop. Topically however, this is MGK’s most dismal, sad, depressing, and reflective project yet. This album is not an easy or casual listen by modern rap standards. With the themes on this album ranging from his mother leaving him, to his suicide attempts, to clever metaphors where he portrays his issues with substance abuse, this thing manages to stay lyrically engaging for its entire runtime pretty easily. Where it lost me in slight and I imagine many other listeners was the rather bland production. There really aren’t any extremely notable beats, or instrumentals on this thing aside from some of the rap rock crossovers like “Hollywood Whore” which really just sound like cheap Lincoln Park ripoffs. That influence certainly is credited however, as another major and sad theme on this thing is MGK attempting to deal with the loss of Lincoln Park’s Chester Bennington as well as rapper and close collaborator; Mac Miller both of whom MGK was presumably pretty close with. While Hotel Diablo stands as a return to form for MGK it does so in the most dark and depressing way possible. This album truly isn’t easy on the ears but at the same time it possess enough potency to battle with some of the better emotional releases this year. MGK has something important to say and he tends to do so here with by far his most kickass lyricism to date.