Victoria Abraham defines one up and coming artist each week so you can impress your friends with your musical brilliance. This week, she tackles Machine Gun Kelly, a hip-hop artist from Cleveland, Ohio.

Machine Gun Kelly, known as MGK for short, combines two of my favourite things: white rappers with mad skills, and illegal amounts of swagger. At 15, his rapid-fire lyrical style earned him his stage name, which is a reference to notorious 1930s gangster George “Machine Gun Kelly” Barnes. MGK has been blowing up on the hip-hop scene after releasing four mixtapes. His debut album, Lace Up, drops today!

Full name: Richard Colson Baker

Known for: MGK is known for his lightning speed delivery.

Used in a sentence: “If MGK continues to produce the type of brilliance he has thus far, then he’s probably going to have to change that dangerously placed “Almost Famous” tattoo.”

File next to: DMX, Yelawolf

Download now: “Invincible”

Five fun facts:

1. Born to missionary parents, MGK spent the first four years of his life in Egypt. He spoke Arabic before he spoke English. Read more…