A track-by-track album review of a new MGK x Trippie Red album that everyone hates

This week from Sam and Josiah

genre : sadboy

mgk x Trippie Redd

by Josiah Hughes and Sam Sutherland

Jos: It starts, as it always did, with a simple qualifier: “dumb idea and might be too much work… but….” And for many years, Sam would say yes. Then I gave him a little bit too much leeway and accidentally broke the spell, and he stopped giving in to my every whim. So I’m as surprised as you are that he agreed to this, but here we are, doing a track-by-track album review of a new MGK x Trippie Red album that everyone hates.

It’s a really funny time to be an MGK fan, which I guess it always is. But much like myself, his big pop-punk adjacent project has come to an end, and he’s now floundering, trying to pick up the pieces of his life and figure out what to do next. We discussed a couple of his solo rap tracks, including “PRESSURE” (which came out the same week as the last-ever pod, although who’s keeping track) and “dont let me go,” not to mention a weekly cypher freestyle series that only lasted three weeks but did give us MGK shouting out Skepta in a comical British accent and the line “so fuckin’ sick I could piss mucus.” 

Yes, Machine Gun Kelly fandom is a gift that keeps giving, even when most of us have had our fill. Hell, even I don’t participate in the “which MGK are you today?” trend anymore (although Matty’s going strong), but every time I tune in there’s something better. For example, I think somewhere in the last year, MGK tried to change his name to just “machine” for a second before eventually switching to just mgk, all lower case, which we will now defer to for the rest of this review.

Speaking of naming conventions, there’s a charming cluelessness to calling your project genre : sadboy, particularly when you’re a post-trap white boy. Calling it that with a straight face is to reveal you have in fact never heard of Yung Lean or his cohort, which is even more funny considering the detuned classical guitars all over the album, all of which sound eerily similar to Lean and Bladee’s far superior new album as Psykos. In that respect, genre : sadboy feels like a poor imitation of a poor imitation of something mgk has never heard of. 

And then, of course, is the nerdy controversy at the heart of the album which, spoiler alert, is far more interesting than anything on the album. A young producer named Kaixan tweeted that he found out one of his beats had been placed on the album, and made one of those equal parts ill-advised and respectable moves that only someone who has the age 22 in bio would do — shit-talked it, writing, “the way I just learned I have a beat placement in this this morning and I know it’s bout to be the worst song I ever heard.”

Trippie Redd found the tweet, and like a Karen complained to his manager to have it removed from the album, with him and mgk crowing on about it like a couple of big babies. Obviously, had they not mentioned it and forced Kaixan to reap the benefits of the placement, like some cursed $500 paycheque or whatever it may be, that would have likely been sweeter revenge, though it would have required far more restraint.

I’m also just stuck on the fact that Kaixan tweeted that. All of the emo bands with managers and power-pop dickriders and friends of publicists that dominate “DIY” would never have the guts to just not do something careerist because it seems too shitty. Maybe a better world is possible.

Anyway, all of this is far more interesting than the album itself, which mostly sounds like outtakes from the far-better-than-it-should-be FX show Dave (on which both of these fellas have appeared). In fact, Lil Dicky and mgk both exemplify a kind of blunt vocal delivery which is almost like a Zumiez rapper (Ivan’s joke) version of singing in cursive, but instead of being a fey wood nymph they sort of sound like an uncle singing in the shower, emphasizing a sort of “doobadoobadoo” mouth sound while also trying to force sounding like a tough guy. If I had a podcast I’d try and exemplify it for you.

Okay that’s probably enough for the intro. Let’s listen to 10 mgk and Trippie Red songs together, Sam. 

Sam: Look I listened to the album and just scrolled up to make sure I didn’t miss anything and realized I hadn’t written anything for the intro. I’ve already dedicated too much of my day to mgk and have to draw the line somewhere. Please enjoy. I did not. 

“lost boys”

Jos: Okay I just talked all this shit and now these two cuties are dangling their legs off the edge of a cliff and I love them for it. Trippie Redd has some swag but he’s also kinda doing the Lil Dicky delivery that I can’t quite describe properly. Whenever mgk comes in I get kinda star struck. He’s just so stupid and good. I put in the work to like him and now I love him. Especially because he says, “Now I’m alone in a vamp castle” before name-dropping Art Basel. It’s absolutely insane. He’s gotta be the most successful struggle rapper of all time.

Sam: Despite never reaching Josiah-levels of MGK (sorry, mgk) appreciation, I have developed a similar pavlovian response to hearing his voice. We really did put the time in. For real though when did ever rapper start using the triplet-triplet-one-two-three flow. Who invented that flow. It was cool but you should be in jail now. 

“beauty”

Jos: Damn did they really pay for full music videos for each of these songs? This one looks kinda cool, with some Harmony Korine infrared that they probably don’t realize they’re referencing and a really cool filter that looks kinda airbrushed while mgk rides a motorbike. Trippie Redd is really not embarrassing at all, but his verses kinda get lost. Probably because they’re paired with mgk talking about the Mandalorian and a hernia and fentanyl for some reason. Also they bought an Imogen Heap sample for this. It’s almost a good song, I just wish the drums were doing a little more. 

Sam: I’m just listening to this on Apple Music while working which is pretty easy and I don’t know that I’m going to commit to watching every music video even if this description made me curious. Okay I’m watching it and I was hoping it would be 100% night vision but it’s just the same empty mishmash of formats that passes for artistic with the kids these days. Realizing how long this half hour is going to feel right about now. 

“time travel”

Jos: Okay this song is super cute. I didn’t even notice it the first time I listened. I love that it’s just MIDI keyboard with the vocals. OMG wait there was one little drum roll, so tasteful. Trippie and mgk sound great as they’re trading off vocals. And mgk does big-time Lil Dicky vocals in the chorus. Do you hear what I mean yet? In this song mgk compares himself to Christian Bale but as Batman not the American Psycho guy, which feels like an appropriate level of edginess for this project. It’s PG-13 edgy. Probably also why Trippie Redd brags about engaging in coitus with someone from behind, is that really so notable it needs to be immortalised in song? Still, this is the best song so far. 

Sam: I wish I was watching Dave instead. That season three finale?? Although I have since realized that the real Lil Dicky might be closer to the Lil Dicky of the show than I thought. Like when the guy from A24 shows up to buy the movie? I don’t think that’s a joke. This song is the same as but not as good as the mournful song that Lil Dicky records with his girlfriend in season one. Respect to mgk for avoiding us spending this whole newsletter talking about Lil Peep, at least. 

“struggles”

Jos: Okay this one has the closest sound to the mall emo wave mgk was riding, but it’s really funny to hear this kind of music without the budget for Travis Barker’s drums. It’s just the Garageband drummer going deep in the pocket. It kinda sounds like Hoobastank, but Trippie’s throaty autotuned singing also give it a Dave Matthews vibe. mgk doesn’t do much but he does hit a cute high note on the word “myself” at one point. These guys really struggle with drugs and love to talk about it. I hope they can get it sorted. The whistling is annoying as fuck.

Sam: This sucks so bad. Why do I let Josiah talk me into this stuff. In terms of sad guys who died relatively young, whose legacy do you think would be more embarrassing to them - Kurt Cobain or Lil Peep? Refused are at least here to see what they did and rude enough to not apologize. Why isn’t Travis Barker involved in this? Is there a story there? I don’t know if his presence would make this better or worse but at least I’d have someone else to think about.

“suddenly”

Jos: Okay turns out they don’t all have music videos, some of them just have footage of these fellas with every AfterEffects filter at once. This song has a cute beat. At 1:47, it’s a great runtime too, although it feels a little incomplete. But it’s a cute lil ditty. C’mon Kaixan, would it have been so bad if your beat was on a song like this, where Trippie Redd sings, “have you ever fucking cried in a limousine?”? Crying in a limousine is such a funny concept, it’s so quaint at this point. You never really think of rich people as riding around in limousines anymore. That’s more for prom or something.

Sam: mgk carving out a lane for people who were too late or scared of the rappers doing this 10 years ago (I just googled and that’s basically right, which is FUCKED) is admirable but as I probably ask too often - who is this FOR. Besides people from Cleveland, who I’m happy for. I remember how Drake made me feel and Toronto is already much closer to being a real city than Cleveland, mostly because it has a casino downtown which, sorry, is some Sydney, Nova Scotia behaviour. I bet mgk is huge in Sydney. 

“half dead”

Jos: The detuned toy piano is so funny, and does really seem like something that could have been on a Sadboys mixtape in like 2015. But then they add trap beats and autotuned singing and it sounds like a song that might be on the credits of Five Nights at Freddy’s, which I keep meaning to watch. Pretty boring song, and I don’t think grown men should be saying “woke up sad.” I mean it’s good to talk about your feelings. But if you’re saying “woke up sad” to me you are severely overestimating how much I want to know about you. mgk is talking about a break-up, and I know Megan Fox did say they called off their engagement on the Call Her Daddy podcast. Fuck why am I so invested in this.

Sam: Does Josiah listen to Call Her Daddy? I think that would be a really fun reveal halfway through an mgk full album review. I’m going to look at some of the lyrics for this song, too. “Woke up sad, woke up sad than a fuck (Fuck) / Woke up sad, guess I'm happy when I'm sad as a fuck (Fuck).” Are the boomer memes about new music true???

“hiding in the hills”

Jos: Something about the melody of this, along with the repeating synth note, makes it sound like a trap cover of a Sting song. Kind of interesting. This one also features Lil Aaron, who is almost the reverse Kaixan — rather than be too cool for these artists, he shows up and does the best work he can. This does feel more like a real song than the last couple, although maybe I’m just pro-Lil Aaron because we’re both in the It’s a Beautiful Day in the Gulch family. Anyway, the lyric “What does old mean when you turn forty?” is vibing with me on so many hilarious levels that I’m laughing at my desk. I guess Sam and I will both find out in 2025.

Sam: Okay yeah it’s giving Sting. Do you think Sting knows who mgk is? I bet Stewart Copeland does. I just searched “stewart copeland travis barker” and there’s enough back and forth between those two in the last few years that I bet he heard a song or two incidentally. Do you think he prefers the pop-punk era or the rap era? Maybe he’s a Motel Diablo head. I can’t remember if that’s the actual name of the album and despite everything I’ve been looking up while listening to this that’s a bridge too far.

“no more”

Jos: Some things that mgk don’t do no more: make friends, take xans, do trends. What does it mean to not do trends no more? Like he’s not going to participate in the next ice bucket challenge or Harlem Shake? I wonder what was the last trend that truly broke free from TikTok into the monoculture. Maybe there aren’t any. IDK this song was kind of forgettable. But I obviously loved when he said “I’m smokin’ cigs right now.”

Sam: A few days ago I thought I should figure out with “skibidi toilet” was but I decided it was okay to just leave some things to the youth. I bet mgk knows what skibidi toilet is. What about Josiah? I think yes but via some kind of distorted mom group meme. We’ve also just passed the TEN YEAR anniversary of the Harlem Shake. Decades, man. Decades. Don’t like ‘em!

“who do i call”

Jos: I do like these songs that have no beats. They’re almost in wanker ambient territory, like if they didn’t have any vocals and had someone with an asymmetrical androgynous haircut that you usually only see in MAGA memes about woke culture in the press photo, this would be on Resident Advisor’s best albums of March. Okay there is a beat now but it’s so tasteful. I see JID is on here, that’s someone right? I love how he says “I just made a half a million off of ASCAP.” Imagine a Canadian rapper bragging about SOCAN. I think I get about 18 cents from SOCAN every quarter. Or imagine if it was Amy Poehler saying I just made a half a million off of ASSSSCAT. 

Sam: Maybe the next Classified song will be about his appreciation for the great work that MusicCounts does. That’s actually more Buck 65 territory. Did we do much Buck 65 chat on the pod? It feels like we must have because I know Josiah has some rude opinion and I’d be like “nooooo he’s niiiiiiice.” This is the longest 27 minutes of my life. I hope the next album is genre : funboy because I am having a bad time.

“summer’s gone”

Jos: Wait this song is awesome. Just someone lazily strumming the classical guitar outside, then mgk doing more generic raps about how sad and effed up he is. This is genuinely so much better than the spoken word parts that appear on the Hotelier albums or whatever. This kinda sounds like Désormais era Julie Doiron honestly. Beautiful indie rock song.

Sam: Tragically Josiah is right. This is cool and I like it. Fuck. 

Final thoughts

Jos: To be honest, I’m not really sure why Trippie Redd is even on here. Most of the songs either have mgk doing most of the work, or mgk’s lyrics are so egregious that they’re the only parts you can remember. I think this album cover looks like a fake leak that you’d find on a rls log torrent tracker site, so the whole thing feels very inconsequential. 

But it was also only 27 minutes long and it was super fun to type about from up here in my vamp castle, and it also meant I didn’t have to post the new Pedro the Lion song and explain why I think it’s bad. There’s also a documentary about the making of this album… think I can convince Sam to talk about that too?

Sam: NO. But honestly probably yes? I still am not good at saying no to Josiah. But I’m happy to say no to genre : sadboy. HOWEVER I am saying yes to… myself. 

After years of being rebuffed, we wore down the government of Ontario and they gave us enough money to make 12 new episodes of This Exists. First one came out yesterday, and they’ll keep rolling out on the first Thursday of every month until we run out of cash. And if you want to celebrate this monumental moment in YouTube history, Chayne and I are DJing at Dundas Video again tonight, too. Actually we do this the first Friday of every month which I only just realized syncs up nicely except for cramming all the excessive self-promotion into a few days and one newsletter. Sorry!

Jos: Okay since we’re doing self-promo, this is what I have been up to. Just this.