mgk machine gun kelly retires rap devil
[Photo by: Alternative Press]

Machine Gun Kelly retires “Rap Devil” at hometown holiday show XXMAS

Machine Gun Kelly closed out the year with his annual hometown holiday show XXMAS at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio. A full-on celebration, the musician recruited phem, Goody Grace, Lil Skies and more to help him end the year—and the decade—with a bang.

Playing through more than 30 songs over two hours at what will be his final show this year, MGK debuted “why are you here” live for the first time after releasing it to streaming Wednesday. He also retired the Eminem diss track “Rap Devil” that dropped more than a year ago.

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To recap, Eminem surprise dropped Kamikaze Aug. 31, 2018, which featured a diss at MGK on “Not Alike.” Three days later, Machine Gun Kelly dropped a response with “Rap Devil” (featuring a video Every Time I Die accidentally made a cameo in).

Filmed while supporting Fall Out Boy on their fall MANIA headliner, Machine Gun Kelly later debuted “Rap Devil” in Eminem’s home state of Michigan at the Grand Rapids stop of the tour Sept. 6, 2018.

Now, with eyes on the future and a previous promise of a refreshed setlist, MGK chose to retire the track in his hometown of Cleveland at XXMAS Saturday.

“I’m so excited for all the things to come ahead and we’re going to leave some shit behind in this decade,” MGK told the Wolstein Center crowd. “So the first time we ever performed this song was in his home state in Michigan. And the last time I’m going to perform this song is right here in Cleveland tonight in my home state. Let’s go, this is the last time we’re going to do this.”

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You can check out the opening speech and full final performance of “Rap Devil” below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6XR8MFBnGZ/

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More on Machine Gun Kelly’s XXMAS

As mentioned above, MGK had a stacked lineup of support for this final show of the decade. DJ E-V kicked things off first followed by Lil Skies. The latter returned to the stage during MGK’s set to perform his part of Hotel Diablo track “Burning Memories.”

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phem also came out to assist again as she did at EST Fest 6 this summer, joining MGK for “5:3666,” which is also off MGK’s Hotel Diablo.

MGK opened up on the “most awkward thing” that inspired his latest single “why are you here,” bringing out track co-writer Goody Grace to help him perform it during his set.

After the track’s live debut, MGK recounted how he met Goody Grace on Mod Sun’s couch. The rapper continued by saying he wanted to share the love and have Goody perform his recent blink-182 collab, “Scumbag.”

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“I feel like tonight is about sharing our energy, man, with each other. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long fucking time. This is like the day where everything just clears out of my system, and it just feels good. So I want to share some energy with a friend that I’ve actually known so long, dude. He ran away from Manitoba, and I met him sleeping on my friend Mod Sun’s couch and he stayed dedicated. I can’t wait for him to have his moment, he’s having it right now. He just dropped this song called ‘Scumbag’ with blink-182, and I just want to jam it a little bit for you guys tonight.”

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Midway through the track, MGK jokes “Since we don’t have blink-182, I’m going to fill in for Mark Hoppus’ part.” Check out the full performance clip below along with MGK’s XXMAS setlist.

 

Machine Gun Kelly XXMAS 2019 setlist

1. “el Diablo”
2. “Till I Die”
3. “LOCO”
4. “Wild Boy”
5. “Roulette”
6. “5:3666” (with phem)
7. “Let You Go”
8. “Candy”
9. “Ecstacy”
10. “LATELY”
11. “Front Street” – YFL Kelvin (with Machine Gun Kelly and YFL Pooh)
12. “Gang” – Doe Boy (with Machine Gun Kelly)
13. “why are you here” (live debut with Goody Grace)
14. “Scumbag” – Goody Grace (with Machine Gun Kelly)
15. “Sex Drive”

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16. “Habits”
17. “Death In My Pocket”
18. “Hollywood Whore”
19. “Alpha Omega”
20. “Home”
21. “Glass House”
22. “Burning Memories” (with Lil Skies)
23. “FLOOR 13”
24. Machine Gun Kelly drum solo medley (featuring System Of A Down, Juice WRLD, more)
25. “Rap Devil” (final time)
26. “Bad Motherfucker”
27. “The Break Up”
28. “Waste Love”
29. “Rehab”
30. “I Think I’m OKAY”
31. “27”

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