Was Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly’s feud fake – or just bad?

Will you never have to read another article about Eminem vs. Machine Gun Kelly again? Maybe, if we’re all fortunate.

The rappers’ rivalry ended abruptly after weeks of treating one another like mortal rivals. It began on August 31 with the release of Eminem’s album “Kamikaze” and appeared to conclude on September 21 with the release of MGK’s EP “Binge.” Since the EP’s release, neither rapper has publicly criticized the other: MGK stated in a pre-album interview that while he and Eminem haven’t reconciled, he is done putting out trash tunes.

With a dispute that ran precisely from one of their releases to the next, and with both artists receiving the kind of intense press and streaming numbers that neither artist has experienced in years, it has been an extremely handy summer for the two artists. It’s a marketing strategy that gave the impression that their drama was staged, as many fans had suspected on the internet.

To summarize the rappers’ incredible month, Eminem launched the first blow—more like a poke—on “Kamikaze,” his surprise album that first made headlines when it was released because the rapper used homophobic slurs in a song called “Fall,” referring to his fellow rapper Tyler, the Creator. The controversy started to grow, but fortunately for Eminem—who eventually issued an apology for the slur—another unfavorable news cycle about a different “Kamikaze” song swiftly replaced it in the headlines. This one focused on his song “Not Alike,” in which he devoted an entire verse to MGK’s numerous transgressions against him.