(L) Bob Dylan. Photo by Barry Feinstein (R) Machine Gun Kelly. Photo via publicist.
In his 2004 memoir Chronicles Vol. 1, Bob Dylan described his love of rap music circa 1989, and his predictions for its future. “Somebody different was bound to come along sooner or later who knew that world, been born and raised with it…be all of it and more. Someone with a chopped topped head and a power in the community. He’d be able to balance himself on one leg on a tightrope that stretched across the universe and you’d know him when he came—there’d be only one like him.” Dylan may have found that person, and his name is MGK (better known as Machine Gun Kelly), whose 2016 performance in a record store Dylan shared on his Instagram on Wednesday (February 26).
The video of Kelly’s “Blue Skies” performance appears to have been shot at Park Ave CDs in Orlando, Florida. The post does not come with a caption, though Dylan’s page is full of clips of other musicians, meaning that this is more likely a sincere appreciation than a shitpost. Watch it below.
Machine Gun Kelly responded to the post in two Instagram stories. “This was not on my 2025 bingo card,” he wrote on a screenshot of Dylan’s post. Next he shared a video response, where he revealed that he was questioning the direction of his new album until someone told him about Dylan’s post. “Just the originator of doing everything opposite of what people wanted him to do randomly posting a video of my back in the day rapping at a vinyl shop. I’m like, what?” Us too, MGK!
Kelly’s upcoming album doesn’t have a release date. Last November, Kelly tweeted that he was “isolated [himself] in the desert to restart the album from scratch.” So whatever comes from that, we can thank Bob Dylan for putting the battery in his back.
Dylan’s appreciation for rap extends back to the genre’s beginnings. In 1986 he appeared on the song “Street Rock” by New York City’s Kurtis Blow, and dropped a quick verse of his own. A quick lyrical sample: “Kids starve in Ethiopia and we are gettin’ greedier / The rich are gettin’ richer and the needy’s gettin’ needier.”
