About a month ago, in a review of Bad Boy Presents: The Preview (a compilation mixtape showcasing the talents of the label’s newly-signed up-and-comers), I wrote “Diddy has always been a savvy businessman however, so perhaps it’s not an accident that the tape ODs on Red Café but leaves you wanting more MGK and Cassie (and Ciroc!).” Well, I’ve apparently gotten (some of) what I’ve wished for, as Machine Gun Kelly has returned, on his own, with the 12-song mixtape Rage Pack.

Kells plays with the dual meanings of rage, alternating between the raw emotion (which he can barely contain) and the frat boy pastime (which seems to be his favorite activity). Luckily for the listener, MGK is a master in both fields. It’s hard to exaggerate the amount of joy you can take from the Cleveland MC telling his own beat to “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” before spazzing out with his trademark rapid-fire flow on the fittingly-titled “STFU.”

Its companion track “LTFU (One More Time)” (the L stands for “laced”) features the declaration/challenge, “Bitch I rage, who gets tipsy?” over a sample of Daft Punk’s famous club banger “One More Time.” Granted, MGK may come off as the asshole at every party who tries to make everyone drink way too much as a way of coping with his own uncontrollable anger. But as long as we’re basing that off his song lyrics and not the vodka he just force-fed down our throats, he’s definitely an entertaining spectacle.

The tape also features two tracks that appeared earlier on The Preview. My thoughts on “Wild Boy” remain unchanged: “MGK, a self-proclaimed ‘East side Cleveland wild boy,’ spits at an impressively rapid-fire rate befitting his moniker. He may seem a bit hard to understand to unfamiliar listeners, until Waka Flocka Flame hops in on the action with him on “Wild Boy.” Then you realize, hey, MGK is pretty easy to understand.”  As for “Warning Shot,” I’m still trying to wrap my head around how this white boy spells his city’s name in about a tenth of a second (around 1:02). Busta Rhymes on “Look At Me Now”-type flow on this one.

MGK proves that he’s (occasionally) able to provoke some thought with his lyrics while he’s raising eyebrows with his flow. On “The Pledge,” he saves one of the less-exciting tracks on the tape by declaring, “this country’s flag is a joke, that shit should be painted green.” The line makes you stop and think long enough to forget the song isn’t that good. The decision to veer off into dubstep near the end of the tape was also a great one, as it’s a very welcome change of pace for anyone who enjoys the burgeoning genre (AKA anyone!). But the best track on the tape, and the one that sums up MGK as a whole, comes three tracks in, with “Half Naked And Almost Famous.” A rap song that samples a band from New Zealand by a white boy who trashes Diddy’s crib (listen to “The Morning After Voicemail…”) should not be as good as this is.

3.5/5 bars

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