Mainstream Sellout

Lil Wayne Smoked 15 Blunts When He Was In The Studio With Machine Gun Kelly

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Lil Wayne
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Machine Gun Kelly’s new Hulu documentary Life In Pink came out yesterday, which tells the story of his pivot to pop punk. Possibly the most interesting part of the whole thing is his recollection of collaborating with Lil Wayne for “Drug Dealer,” and the way the iconic rapper smoked 15 blunts.

“I pressed play on the song, he’s like, ‘Is that what we’re doing?’” MGK recalled. “‘Yeah.’ He’s like, ‘Alright. You guys got time?’ ‘Yeah, for sure.’ He goes in the courtyard, smokes 15 blunts. He just takes each, his eyes are closed just playing the track over and over again. He comes back in the studio and we can see him in the courtyard. We’re just kind of sitting there amazed, like that’s the GOAT forming his thoughts around a track that we made.”

He continued, “He comes back in at 5:30 in the morning. He’s like, ‘Y’all ready?’ He goes in the booth and he lays his sh*t like, one time. It’s just like, one time.”

Kelly previously told a similar story about working with Wayne, minus the details about blunts.

Apparently MGK’s flirtation with pop punk is coming to an end for now, because a couple of months ago he said he’ll be returning to rap music. “I’m going to make a rap album for myself, for no other reason, no point to prove, no chip on my shoulder,” he said in an interview.

Machine Gun Kelly Earns His Second No. 1 Album With ‘Mainstream Sellout’

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Machine Gun Kelly 2022 Howard Stern Show
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Machine Gun Kelly’s transition from a rapper to a rocker has definitely served him well. He began the transition back in 2019 after the release of his fourth album Hotel Diablo. His next project, which was 2020’s Tickets To My Downfall, was his first full-fledge pop-punk album and it also became his first No. 1 album after it topped the Billboard 200 chart. Sure, Kelly has faced some criticism for his position in the rock world, but that hasn’t stopped his success. Less than two years after landing his first No. 1 album, Kelly finds himself on top of the charts again with his sixth album Mainstream Sellout.

In its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Mainstream Sellout sold 93,000 album units. That number is comprised of 50,000 streaming equivalent album units and 42,000 pure album sales, which also makes Mainstream Sellout the best-selling album of the week. Kelly’s sixth album received a boost on the charts thanks to deluxe editions and boxed sets that were made available for fans to buy on his official website. Nonetheless, Mainstream Sellout still would have gone No. 1 without any sales from non-traditional sellers which includes web-based stores.

Mainstream Sellout is the first rock album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in over a year. The last rock album to do so was AC/DC’s Power Up when it topped the charts on November 28, 2020. Mainstream Sellout also had the largest week for a rock album since Paul McCartney’s McCartney III debuted with 107,000 units sold in its first week on January 2, 2021.

Mainstream Sellout is out now via Bad Boy and Interscope Records. You can stream it here.

Machine Gun Kelly Tells The Surreal Story Of Getting Lil Wayne On His Album Right Before It Was Due

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On Machine Gun Kelly’s new album Mainstream Sellout, Lil Wayne makes two appearances, on “Drug Dealer” and “Ay!.” Kelly made an appearance of his own last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where he told the wild story of how Wayne got on the album at almost the last possible minute.

Kelly said he and Travis Barker called Wayne and asked if he wanted to drop by the studio and record a verse for “Drug Dealer.” Kelly continued:

“He was super down. He was like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna pull up.’ This is around 8 o’clock. He pulls up around 1 a.m. The sprinter’s there and there’s all these security cameras. We’re like, ‘Dude, that’s Lil Wayne’s sprinter, this is crazy.’ We wait about an hour. The sprinter door opens, we’re like, ‘Oh my god, the door’s opening.’ He walks out, he comes in. He says ‘what’s up’ to everybody, I play the song, he’s like, ‘This is what we’re doing?’ I was like, ‘Yup.’

Then, he’s like, ‘You guys got time?’ We’re like, ‘All the time you need.’ He goes in this courtyard, walks around. He walks on the courtyard for like five… comes back in at like 6 in the morning. He’s like, ‘I didn’t make you wait too long, did I?’ We were all like, ‘No, man, no. What? No.” And he goes in the booth, does it in like one take. We freak out. I get in the car, I go wake Megan [Fox] up. I’m like, ‘Oh my god, Lil Wayne just got on the album.’”

As for how “Ay!” came together, that was a little more nerve-wracking, as Kelly continued:

“And then the album has to be turned in. We have this song called ‘Ay!.’ We’re like, ‘It just sounds like Lil Wayne should be on this one, too. Should we try?’ We call and they’re like, ‘Yeah, he’s gonna skate ’til 7 a.m. but like…’ And we’re like, ‘But the album needs to be turned in at 9:30.’ And they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, he got it.’

I set my alarm for 8:30. I woke up and I’m like, ‘Dude, Lil Wayne didn’t cut a song at 8 in the morning.’ Dude, the verse was there. He did a song at 8 in the morning.”

Watch the full interview above.