Machine Gun Kelly Says He's 'Sick' of People Thinking He 'Departed' Hip-Hop to Make Pop-Punk Music

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After starting his career as a rapper, Machine Gun Kelly ventured into the pop-punk genre and found extreme success — but that doesn't mean he's left the rap game behind.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday, the musician clarified that he never took a break from rap music, despite popular belief that he's made the switch with his latest albums Tickets to My Downfall and Mainstream Sellout.

"I'm talented as f—, and I added on to my catalog of four great rap albums. So, what I did was I added on — never departed, left or switched," the 32-year-old "emo girl" singer said. "Because in the same year I was the most-viewed YouTube video putter-outer with all rap, which was my lockdown sessions, which gained more views than almost any of my other videos. And it was hundreds of millions of views of me rapping."

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He then went on to explain that he was often discredited for his achievements in rap music, even though he was working hard to maintain that side of his music.

"When you conveniently leave that out, that when quarantine happened and everyone was stuck in the house with no new entertainment, and I picked up my cell phone and put this thing on and wrote my a— off and rapped my a— off weekly … then you watch it and you're like, 'Damn, he's actually saying some sh—.' I was rapping," he said.

He continued, "And then later on we dropped a No. 1 album that was a pop-punk album. So when they say 'departed' or when they say, 'Oh, man, you switched.' Motherf—er, are you dumb?!"

The singer-songwriter also said he doesn't enjoy being placed in a box — and wishes people would realize he has versatility.

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"What do you think, I was at home, and I was like, 'Well, man, I guess I got to depart from rap'? What?! You don't think that maybe I'm just inspired by all this. You don't think that maybe I grew up listening to all this? What? Did we grow up in a jail where they're like, 'You get one album, one genre and that's it. You got to do this'?" he said. "I just did a whole tour where I literally come out of a box. The metaphor of 'Don't put me in a box.' If that's not the most f—ing obvious sign of 'Please stop putting me — saying that I departed or that I switch.'"

Last week, the trailer for Kelly's new movie Taurus dropped — and it gives an inside look at his character Cole, a troubled musician. In the movie, the rising rock star pushes himself to create one final song, tracking his turmoil and self-destruction as the creative process consumes him.

"I want it to sound far from everything. Like everything's upside down," he says in the trailer for the movie, set for release on Nov. 18.

The musician also wrapped up the UK and European leg of his Mainstream Sellout Tour on Oct. 12.