Machine Gun Kelly Says Kissing Gugu Mbatha-Raw In Beyond The Lights Was The “Best Feeling In The World” [PHOTOS]

First movies for actors are always dicey. Especially when that actor just has happens to be rapper. A typecast role is generally in order, largely to bring awareness of the movie to the Hip-Hop artist’s thriving fan base.

For Machine Gun Kelly’s first movie, Beyond the Lights, yes, he portrays a rapper. But for a movie that excels in showing the dark side of fame and its side effects, his participation in the film goes a long way helping the story unfold to be a convincing romantic drama.

Hip-Hop Wired touched bases with the newly minted thespian as he combed through phone chargers in Beverly Hills to find the correct male end to his unique Android device. Despite the annoying task at hand, his thoughts on creating the movie inject positivity into the conversation for a movie that he walked away feeling 100 percent sure about.

“I loved the experience; I think it’s a great film and I love that my character got to have such a stunning leading lady as my girl in the film,” he says when asked about his overall opinion of the role he was given. MGK plays Kid Culprit, the rough-edged offset to leading star Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s character, Noni. The bad boy image of Culprit reflects on the musical attributes MGK feeds listeners, but he assures it’s all just acting.

“I think the attitude of was MGK and the character itself [was] Kid Culprit,” he explained. “My image doesn’t revolve around my love life and this guy was all about that.” As the trailers for Beyond the Lights have all suggested, Noni is bubbling with inner-turmoil and her association with the Kid isn’t exactly the prescription the doctor ordered.

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Photos: Relatively Media

What makes MGK’s appearance in Beyond the Lights even more impressive is that he shot his scenes over the course of two months, in between trips to Los Angeles–in between his tour. He tells Hip-Hop Wired he auditioned for the role five times and after getting the part, his actual rapper-esque scenes were the ones he honed in on the hardest.

“I was on the road and I was flying back and forth to L.A. and most of the preparation was for the choreography for the BET Awards scene so I could develop a good working relationship [with Gugu] so we could transfer that chemistry on-screen,” he remembers. Relativity Media and associate producer Amar’e Stoudemire did a great job of incorporating today’s musical landscapes into the movie to make the characters look like stars of today. For example, the aforementioned BET Awards scene features cameos from the likes of Big Sean and Stoudemire himself, but it all was created for the sake of the movie.

As a somewhat antagonist within the film, MGK is on the right track but he’s not allowing his character’s fictional personality traits to get misconstrued with who he is. Actually, he doesn’t care. “I’m so forgone at worrying about people’s opinions of me so I wouldn’t be hurt if they really thought I was an asshole,” he admits. “All I’m worried about is being able to deliver a good performance on-screen.” Seeing that the acting bug is easier to acquire than Ebola, he’s more eager for the people to absorb his initial appearance on-screen and give him the feedback he needs to keep going.

“I’ve already shot two other movies that are releasing next year and I’m definitely going to persue acting from this point on. I’m really curious to see the reaction of my performance of this film as I move forward in efforts to push the rapper/actor stereotype before I continue to dive in,” he continued. As for being able to lock lips with on-screen girlfriend, he makes it seem like it was the perk of a lifetime.

“It was the best feeling in the world,” he says in reference to the Mbatha-Raw with fevered enthusiasm. “You know how people make jokes like, ‘If I was kissing her, I’d mess up every scene so they have do it again?’ I swear every time they would yell cut, I would be like ‘YES!’ She’s one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Not a bad sight for a rookie to witness.

Beyond the Lights is in theaters today. Skip the line by buying your tickets on Fandago and enjoy it this weekend. Hit the next page for the made-for-movie music video, “Masterpiece” by Noni and Kid Culprit.