Machine Gun Kelly is back to rapping, kinda, on his new song, “Ay!,” featuring a guest verse from Lil Wayne.
The track blends a brooding but dreamy guitar loop with crisp hip-hop production as MGK raps about everything from his preference for sad playlists, skipping meetings, and sleeping until 7 p.m. There’s even a Britney Spears reference as he rhymes, “I cut my hair off like I’m Britney/Sparkle dust like a pixie.”
“Ay!” also arrives with a music video in which MGK and some friends bop along to the song in a dressing room, their outfits changing with quick cuts, as some goofy visual effects turn MGK’s eyes into mouths. Lil Wayne also makes a “cameo” of sorts, appearing on a table in the form of a tiny paper cutout during his verse.
“Ay!” marks the second offering from Machine Gun Kelly’s sixth studio album, Mainstream Sellout, following “Emo Girl,” featuring Willow. Mainstream Sellout, which will arrive March 25, was originally set to be called Born With Horns, a name both MGK and his frequent collaborator Travis Barker ostensibly settled on when they got matching tattoos of the title. MGK broke the news to Barker that he’d changed the LP’s name in a TikTok video shared back in January.
As he preps for the release of his new album, however, MGK is also facing a lawsuit filed against him by a disabled parking lot attendant, who’s accused the musician of pushing and threatening him during an encounter last August.
Metallica bassist Jason Newsted says he is now “free and clear” after facing throat cancer.
The 63 year old musician, who played with the Enter Sandman legends from 1986 through 2001, has shared details of his diagnosis publicly for the first time. He explained that doctors discovered it early, and on May 8, 2025 he “underwent a procedure” to treat the condition.
Speaking on the Let There Be Talk podcast, he said: “They took a bunch of s*** outta here and then they went in with lasers this way and took a bunch of s*** out.
“So the cavern inside my head is different than it was, but we got it early. And I got my ‘free and clear’ about three weeks ago. So I beat it.”
Jason contributed to several of Metallica’s most iconic releases, including 1988’s ...And Justice For All, their self titled 1991 album, 1996’s Load, the 1997 follow up Reload, and 1998’s Garage Inc.
After going through his cancer experience, the bassist made a point to slow down and actually give himself time to recover instead of constantly pushing forward.
He explained: “I promised myself I was going to rest, and that was the first time I’ve done that in my life.
"I’m usually just on or off. And so I promised myself I was gonna take the gravity off and lay down for the right amount of hours."
The health scare also led Jason to give up smoking weed and drinking alcohol, something he admits he likely would not have done otherwise.
He added: “The great spirit got my attention and said, ‘That’s not good right now, man.’ And so it pulled me off it.
"And so now I’m more clear-headed than I’ve been in my entire adult life. And so there’s blessings within everything. The lemonade I’m making this summer, bro — mm. Sweet. Ooh.”
Jason has previously said that his unexpected departure ultimately helped Metallica continue moving forward, while James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich later admitted they struggled to process his decision at the time.
Lars told Apple Music in 2021: “Jason is the only member of Metallica who has ever left willingly. And that in itself is a statistic.
"And the resentment from James and I was just so… 'You can’t do that. You can only leave if we want you to leave'.
"And then we weren’t equipped at the time to do a deep dive into why he was leaving. So of course, now you can see 20 years later, it makes complete sense.”
