| Real Name: | Richard Colson Baker |
| Birthday: | April 22, 1990 |
| Net Worth: | $10 million |
| Height: | 192 cm |
| Occupation: | American Rapper, Singer, Songwriter, Actor |
From his humble beginnings in Cleveland to selling out venues across the U.S. and creating four top-ten billboard albums, Machine Gun Kelly has blazed a path for himself in the world of hip-hop. However, it’s hard to call MGK just a rapper. He’s certainly more than that, from walking in fashion shows to acting in television roles, he even regularly takes the stage at shows rocking a guitar, jumping in mosh pits, and crowd diving. This born-to-be-a-legend, with a wild fashion sense and a colorful collection of tattoos, has one hell of a life. And we’re here to tell you all about it.
Story Stages
Career Ups and Downs
Machine Gun Kelly was born Richard Colson Baker on April 22, 1990, in Huston Texas. His parents were missionaries and therefore moved all over the world, spending his early childhood in places such as Egypt, Germany, and Chicago. They settled down in Denver, Colorado, and for a short period of time, Kelly experienced a pretty typical childhood, but that wouldn’t last long.
His mother was unhappy with the family’s lifestyle, therefore meeting another man and taking off with him when Kelly was just nine years old. From that point on, the relationship with his mother became extremely strained. His father didn’t handle this loss very well, he fell into depression, and was soon out of work.
Kelly and his father moved into his aunts’ basement. He faced bullying on a daily basis while going to Hamilton Middle School. The bullying continued in high school, at Thomas Jefferson High School.
During this time, Colson would have a number of run-ins with the law. When he was 14 years old he got caught stealing CD players and got a felony charge for a crime he wouldn’t specify. Around this time his father left for missionary work in Kuwait and Kelly had to take care of himself. Considering everything that was going on in his life, it’s not much of a surprise to find out that Kelly soon enough found himself experimenting with drugs.
On the plus side, he also started creating music. He recorded his first amateur demo tape “Stamp of Approval” in his aunt’s basement in 2006. He also played the tight end on the football team. When his father returned, they moved to Cleveland, Ohio and Kelly enrolled in Shaker High School.
During this time he started taking his music career very seriously and spread his work all around the school. That’s when he earned the moniker “Machine Gun Kelly“, dye to the rapid delivery of his fire lyrics. Kelly quickly began to make a name for himself amongst Ohio hip-hop heads and from 2009 to 2014 he dominated the Ohio Hip-Hop Awards. He won everything from Best Live Performer, Video of the Year to Best National Artist. His first big break came after winning b2b competitions at the Apollo Theater, making him the first rapper to ever win the contest.
Back in Ohio, he graduated high-school and as a reward for all this, he was kicked out of his father’s house. There was a time when he was homeless and addicted to heroin. This dark period would last for two years, thankfully overcoming the addiction through rehab and counseling. Around the year 2009, he realized that he is going to become a father to his beautiful daughter Casie. He had to find a job to support himself, thus he started working in Chipotle.
After taking control of his demons, more success was just around the corner. His mixtape “100 Words and Running” started to gain some online traction and he began to build a loyal fanbase. He was featured on MTV’s Sucker Free Freestyle that landed him on the national scene.
In May 2010, he made his debut single “Alice in Wonderland“, releasing the track on iTunes. The same year in November, he released the “Lace Up” mixtape, which was played at the Cleveland home games. He developed his on-camera persona with his YouTube channel, creating a series of vlogs titled “Kelly Vision“.
In 2011 MGK became an XXL Freshman and signed to Diddy’s Bad Boy Records. His single “Wild Boy” with Waka Flocka went 2x platinum and from there, MGK was laced up and off to the races.
He released an EP “Half-Naked & Almost Famous“, which made it all the way to Number 46 on the Billboard 200. He found out even more success with his follow-up album “Lace Up“, which dropped in October 2012, and reached Number 4 on Billboard 200. He went on tour to promote his debut album “Lace Up“. That tour an all the upcoming ones are recorded on his YouTube vlogs. Over the years, he’s been a part of the Warped Tour. He also picked up an MTV Europe Music Award for “Artist About To Go Global”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqlqxlwz7o4
In May 2012, he wrote a tweet regarding how attractive is Eminem’s daughter Hailey, which was 16 years old at the time. However, Eminem wasn’t too fond of that tweet, resulting in taking shots to one another. There were diss tracks like “Rap Devil” and “Kill Shot“, and essentially Kelly accused Eminem of trying to kill his career by preventing his music from getting aired on radio stations, most notably “Shade 45“.
In 2014, he started getting involved with acting. He landed his first role in Cameron Crowe’s series “Roadies“, along with lead roles in films like “Viral” and “Nerve“.
By 2015 his musical career was back on track with the release of “General Admission“, which debuted Number 4 on the Billboard 200 and Number 1 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. He released a single “Bad Things“, with Camilla Cabello and this peaked at Number 9 at the US Billboard Hot 100 and went 3x platinum.
In 2017 he released his third album “Bloom“, which debuted Number 8, and finally, in 2019, he released “Hotel Diablo“, which made its way all the way to the Number 5 on Billboard 200. MGK made a lot of his money on the road. He was known for his high energy, moshpit-filled, rock star-like performances.
That’s not all. Machine Gun Kelly has been in multiple Netflix movies. He appeared in Birdbox, which was one of the most streamed Netflix movies of the year. He also appeared in the comedy “Big Time Adolescence” with his buddy Pete Davidson, as well as in “The King Of Staten Island“. His most noticeable role was in the Motley Crue movie “The Dirt“, portraying Tommy Lee. It probably didn’t take much work to play the role, because he basically lives out the part in real life.
In December 2019, MGK announced an upcoming album with Travis Baker, teasing that it would be pop-punk. In January 2020, he shared that the upcoming album will be called “Tickets to My Downfall“, which will be released on September 25, 2020. By now 3 singles have been released: “Bloody Valentine“, “Concert for Aliens“, and “My Ex’s Best Friend“. With “Bloody Valentine” he won an award for the best alternative song on MTV’s Video Music Awards.
During quarantine, Colson released multiple cover songs that reached millions of views on YouTube, such as “Love on the Brain” by Rihanna, “Misery Business” by Paramore, and “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine. During lockdown sessions, he recorded a few songs, such as “Smoke and Drive“, “Pretty Toxic Revolver” and “In These Walls“.
In August 2020, MGK opened a coffee house called “27 Club Coffe“, which is in his hometown Cleveland, Ohio.
Earnings and Net Worth
Taking into consideration his successful and talented career in music, as well as eye-catching roles in various movies, Machine Gun Kelly is one good earner. His cash flow is said to be around $10 million, thus the yearly income of Colson would be 1 million per year.
Personal Life
Besides the acting and his legendary music, we can’t forget that MGK is living out his rockstar lifestyle. MGK not only has a tour bus where things get wild but he also occasionally flies to shows on his private jet, which he refers to as “Air Diablo”. When he’s not on the road, he’s chilling at his luxurious LA mansion. In front of the house, he parks his Range Rover, the yellow 79′ Camaro, Aston Martin as well as his Harley Davidson motorcycle which he got for his 30th birthday.
MGK maintained a close relationship with his daughter. He is taking her on his live shows, as well as occasionally staying together in his LA mansion with the rest of the crew.
He also had a few lady-loves including Halsey, Amber Rose, and the most recent one, Megan Fox.
