The beef between Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly which was reignited following the release of the former's latest album 'Kamikaze' has become the subject of scrutiny recently as a number of people have speculated that there may be some staging to their apparent disharmony. 

Eminem at the 'Southpaw' premiereEminem at the 'Southpaw' premiere

There's been a kind of back-and-forth between the two rappers since Eminem's song 'Not Alike', where he criticised Machine Gun Kelly for comments he made about his daughter back in 2012. MGK then went on to release a takedown of his former idol in the form of 'Rap Devil', to which Eminem responded with 'Killshot'.

However, eagle-eyed spectators to this situation have noticed some strange things that don't add up in this story. For starters, both 'Not Alike' and 'Rap Devil' have been co-written and produced by the same person - Ronny J - and while he didn't work on 'Killshot', it still seems odd for them to be sharing producers over something that seems so personal.

On the other hand, they are both signed to Interscope Records - which either explains them using the same people on their songs, or could be seen as further evidence that they're in cahoots.

Even if we ignore those factors, a new bit of information has come to light regarding 'Rap Devil'. A screenshot taken by a fan has apparently shown that the song was uploaded to Soundcloud six months ago, well before 'Kamikaze' dropped, and that it had simply been marked 'private' the entire time until September 8th. 

It no longer says that on MGK's page so it's difficult to know whether or not the screenshot was doctored. Meanwhile, Montana rapper and industry professional OverTime is 100% convinced that this whole beef is staged based on the timings of the responses in relation to the release of 'Kamikaze'.

'It took Em a week to respond on purpose', he said on Facebook. 'The promotion for Kamikaze from the "beef" sent a HUGE spike in sales....soon as sales began to taper, Em released his response which then catapulted him back into conversation.'

He also pointed out that MGK is set to release an album - moreover an EP entitled 'Binge' - tomorrow (September 21st 2018) which he believes is further proof of a publicity stunt.

More: Machine Gun Kelly allegedly booed off stage

It seems only time will tell if it's all true.