Review of Machine Gun Kelly’s New Song “Hollywood Whore”

Cover art for “Hollywood Whore”

A few weeks ago, MGK released the first song, Hollywood Whore, from his upcoming album Hotel Diablo. This song shines a light on a relevant topic in Hip-Hop, labels exploiting their artists.

Picture from music video

The instrumental has drawn comparisons to Linkin Park’s song Numb and MGK honored the lead singer of the band, Chester Bennington, in the music video. Sonically it is a shift from his 2018 EP Binge, but it is not the first time he has experimented with the rock genre.

He opens the song off by questioning if the famous lifestyle is worth it. The line “Under the Hollywood sign, you get blinded by the glow” is used an excellent transition into the next part of the verse. The song starts to intensify as the drums come and has lyrics probably directed at Diddy, who signed MGK to his label Bad Boy. He talks about how Diddy’s actions don’t match his words and he’s the reason why MGK hasn’t released his new album yet. He has a powerful finish verse by saying “And if fate send us both to Heaven/ I’ma keep a blade in my leather so I can kill you at the gate.”

The second verse continues on the topic of betrayal and also MGK’s life before and after the fame. The lines “My schedule is so fuckin’ hectic, but still I’m in debt/ I’d be better off dead so life insurance keep my family fed” goes to show the listeners that being a famous rap artist doesn’t assure you financial security. He ended his second verse with the heartbreaking lines “Because of you, you ain’t never gonna see me trust/Even if I got a wife, she just somebody I fuck.”

MGK lyrics were thought provoking and the instrumental complimented the vibe he was going for. On top of the two stellar verses, the hook perfectly summarizes everything being addressed in the song. My only nit picks are that the instrumental is good not great and the hook could have been more catchier. Overall, my grade for Hollywood Whore is an – A.