Eminem‘s brand new single, Killshot, surfaced on YouTube last Friday. The Machine Gun Kelly diss track hit more than 36 million views within its first 24 hours. This broke multiple records and pushed Kanye West’s unique new video, I Love It (ft. Lil Pump), to the #2 spot on YouTube.
Friday’s view count broke two records: Killshot is the biggest debut for a hip-hop track and the third biggest in YouTube history overall. As of this writing, the highly vulgar track weighs in at more than 80 million views.
WATCH BELOW: Eminem’s video for diss track, Killshot (NOTE: Foul language abound)
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Killshot stems from a longtime feud between Eminem and American rapper Machine Gun Kelly (a.k.a. MGK.) Back in 2012, MGK posted a tweet about Shady’s then 16-year old daughter, Hailie Jade Scott (formerly Mathers). It said, “Okay, so I just saw a picture of Eminem’s daughter … and I have to say, she is hot as f**k, in the most respectful way possible because Em is king.”
MGK claimed that his music was banned from Shade 45, Eminem’s uncensored hip-hop channel on Sirius XM.
But after six years, Eminem has officially followed up. He dropped his 10th studio album — the relentless Kamikaze — as a complete surprise to fans on Aug. 31. It featured the song Not Alike, which featured lyrics directed toward Kelly:
“And I’m talkin’ to you, but you already know who the f**k you are, Kelly/
I don’t use sublims and sure as f**k don’t sneak-diss/
But keep commenting on my daughter Hailie”
In response to this, MGK released Rap Devil (a poke at the Eminem moniker, “Rap God”), a track that held no punches. It shot straight to #1 on iTunes and sparked a huge controversy in the hip-hop community.
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Shady was quick with a comeback and put out the fiery diss track, Killshot, only last Friday. The artwork features the likeness of MGK with two crosses emblazoned over his eyes, topped off with the crosshair of a gun to truly mark the kill shot.
Shady’s quick hitting lyrics are a direct response to each and every verse on Rap Devil:
“Yo, Slim, your last four albums sucked/
Go back to Recovery, oh shoot, that was three albums ago/
What do you know? Oops/
Know your facts before you come at me, lil’ goof.”
People are going nuts over this ruthless comeback. Many are taking sides with the “real” Slim Shady as his single rapidly approaches Rap Devil in numbers. The hip-hop community took to Twitter to slam Kelly and praise the “real” Slim Shady for his poetry.
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MGK was quick to respond with an Instagram post captioned “he missed.” The picture shows MGK standing in front of a crowd wearing a Killshot shirt, middle finger held high.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnz1w20FOeq/?hl=en&taken-by=machinegunkelly
It is unclear whether Kelly is working on following through with this feud, but the ball is now in his court. His upcoming EP, Binge, will be released on Friday, which could possibly include the next diss track to light Shady’s fire.
Upon Killshot‘s release, Shady beat out I Love it and Nicki Minaj’s Barbie Dreams on the U.S. top trending charts for music videos.
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Kamikaze sold more than 430,000 units in its first week, which blew the previous Rap God album, Revival, out of the water. The highly criticized album sold more than 267,000 by Jan. 3, 2018. It was his 9th #1 album on the Billboard charts.
Kamikaze is available to listen to on all streaming platforms. You can even purchase it from the official Eminem website.
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