The following article mentions addiction.
Just a few years ago, a conversation about Jelly Roll would have likely been related to pastry.
Or at least that’s how it may have looked from the outside.
So who is the man behind the music?
Read on to find out everything we know about country singer Jelly Roll.
Before he was Jelly Roll, the musician was a kid named Jason DeFord.
The name eventually caught on with his classmates.
Meanwhile, it’s also the name to which he still answers.
He wound up spending more than a year in prison.
Looking back, he retains deep regrets for committing the act that placed him behind bars.
“I never want to overlook the fact that it was a heinous crime,” he told Billboard.
“A guard knocks on my cell door midafternoon during lockdown.
He goes, ‘You had a kid today,'” Jelly Roll told Billboard.
“And that there was something that was solely relying on me.
I knew that that was an important task.”
Looking back, Jelly Roll now views that singular moment as the most defining event in his life.
“It was kind of that moment for me.”
He decided he would do whatever it took to become a part of his daughter’s life.
After his release, he met his daughter for the first time at a party celebrating her second birthday.
In 2016, Jelly Roll’s second child, a son named Noah, was born.
“The culture I was first exposed to was hip-hop,” he told Billboard.
“Not even just music, but the culture breakdancing, graffiti, freestyling, the clothing.”
“I’m just like, ‘Yo, here’s a sack of weed.
Here’s a gram of coke.
Here’s a mixtape.’
Know what I’m saying?
‘I rap, too!’
It was like my business card,” he told “CBS Sunday Morning.”
“Even my drug dealing, to me, was always a means to music.”
“I’ll be the third ‘rap act.’
Wu-Tang, Common and Jelly Roll.”
“The music started evolving as the man did,” he explained.
“Have you all ever went into a Waffle House after 8 p.m.?”
“It looks like an old pregnant woman strip club that sells hash browns!
“Long story short my fat ass holds no grudges,” he wrote.
“I had to learn that you could drink alcohol without doing cocaine.
It took me a long time to learn that,” he explained.
“Nobody wants to snort cocaine sober, then you’re a drug addict,” he said.
“But I had to re-look at my relationship with alcohol like that.”
Their connection, however, was immediate, and they soon began dating.
When Bunnie said yes, he figured, why wait?
“I’m like, ‘F*** it, let’s just go now.’
Years later, the couple decided the time was right to have a real, genuine wedding.
This time, however, she was planning on doing things right.
“Seven years ago we stumbled into this little chapel in Vegas black out drunk,” he wrote.
“My only regret was never seeing her in a dress.”
The fact that they may appear to be an unusual match is not something that’s lost on them.
“We got married in 2016.
Meanwhile, the two have been very candid abouthaving an open marriage.
“Like, that’s not a problem.”
They’re also not averse to inviting others to join them in the bedroom.
“It was not only the toxicity of social media, but the addiction of it.
I was becoming too busy to waste hours of my life scrolling,” he toldVariety.
“I’ve never felt better or healthier mentally never felt more clearheaded,” he added.
Speaking before the Senate’s Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, he brought his personal perspective.
“I’ve attended more funerals than I care to share with y’all, this committee.
“I brought my community down.
I hurt people,” he said, taking responsibility for his own small role in the fentanyl crisis.
“And they’re killing the people we love.”
“I love golf because people drink early in the morning.
I, too, like things that involve drinking early in the morning when that’s possible.
It’s like a little sanctuary, man.
It’s awesome.”
“Ryan, kindly call me, man.
I know you don’t know me.
I’m shooting at you every time I get a chance on a national platform.
Ryan Murphy, I’ll get my people with your people.
I just need 15 to 30 minutes.”
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available.
Visit theSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration websiteor contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
