Jelly Roll Visits His Old Nashville Jail Cell
Jelly Roll recently visited the Metro Country Jail in Nashville with CBS’ Sunday Morning show and even took the show’s host into his old jail cell. Jelly said upon entering the small cell, “This is jail; it sucks.”
He noted that the cell “still smells the same” and added while tearing up “There was a time in my life where I truly thought, ‘This is it.’ And then coming here after getting nominated for two GRAMMYS, it just hits differently. I didn’t think I would get emotional, to be honest. When I left here, I did have a plan.” He pointed to a small table in his former cell and said, “I wrote hundreds of songs right here.”
Jelly was in and out of jail for ten years. His first time was at age 14, for drug possession, drug dealing, shoplifting, and aggravated robbery. He said he knew that he loved music, and it was the only thing he had; it was his only “skill set.”
He even talked about his nickname, which he was given to him by his mother when he was a kid. His real name is Jason Deford. He said, “If someone walked in right now and said ‘Jason,’ I wouldn’t look up.”
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As for his childhood, he said his father booked bets and his mother struggled with drugs, so he believed that’s just what you “did” in life. He said that his music was something he handed out with his drug deals. He said with a laugh about handing the music out, “I rap too; it was like my business card. Dealing to me was always a means to music.”
Asked if he felt like he earned his success, Jelly said that he is “starting to” but he “didn’t at first.” He revealed that he’s “still dealing with imposter [syndrome] stuff.” He says he is talking with his therapist about that. Jelly says he asks himself if he really deserves this, noting he is a “guy that’s haunted by my past.” He says, “There’s a very dark hallway between my ears.”
When he visits jails and juvenile centers in his travels to help those still incarcerated, he says he tells them, “It’s okay not to have it figured out at 35. Just know that you can figure it out and believe in that.”
He concluded that in those visits, where he speaks and performs, he tries to get them “free for a moment.” For juveniles, he says he is just trying to get them to understand that they “are loved.”
