Wed., May 08, Machine Gun Kelly

As a brash, hard-repping white rapper from the Midwest, the Eminem comparisons are inevitable for Machine Gun Kelly—particularly given his bristling rhymes and dark storytelling sensibility. Yet MGK's a Cleveland boy and is equally inspired by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, whose crisp, biting spitfire flow he emulates. It coils like a cobra, and he's nearly always hissing. Sean “Puffy” Combs signed him to Bad Boy Records and assembled an all-star backing lineup—DMX, Waka Flocka Flame, Tech N9ne, Young Jeezy—for last year's searing debut, Lace Up. The music features plenty of guitars and spooky metal synths, amplifying MGK's steely strut and shadowy malevolence. 1417 R Street, www.mgklaceup.com.