Even though his star continues to rise, knows jelly roll There is still work to be done on myself mentally, physically and spiritually.
But Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast, the Grammy-nominated singer looked back at his arrests, which included armed robbery at age 15, and said he hoped his victims would forgive him.
,I really want to talk to him. I have thought about reaching out. This happened 24 years ago. And I don’t know how it’s going to start — you know, how I’m going to go about it — because sometimes I wonder if they’ll even see me pass or know about my success,” Jelly are on their “amendment list”, Roll said.
“I would just ask them to understand, I would just ask them to say one thing, I’m sorry, because there’s no excuse for this. The first accountability is that no matter how old I get, I had nothing to do with anyone. The only right I had was this, the world owed me so much that I could come and take your stuff.
“When I look back now I don’t know what I was trying to be,” the 39-year-old said. “This is how I know I was 15 because whenever I try to reason with it, I can’t. There was no logic in what I did. It made no sense at all. And I learned a lot from that and the way I interact with people.
Jelly Roll also said that he hopes the victims will see how much he has changed and that “money does not make character, but reveals it.”
The “Save Me” singer first went to juvenile detention at age 13 and was in and out of jails for years.
Reflecting on his experiences as a teenager behind bars, he said, ,I missed high school. I missed any kind of normal interaction, any kind of development that might have been happening, what development might have been happening in those areas. And I was developing in one room. And I committed a crime that deserved it, but I was growing up in a room with stone white walls, a steel commode and a steel cot and a six by eight cell, six feet wide, eight feet long. , When I became an adult, I had to sleep with my legs folded. You know, couldn’t get out completely. I’ll never forget being 17, realizing I’d grown so much that I could no longer fit in the bunk bed at length.
Jelly Roll, who was born Jason Deford, credits those experiences for making him the person he is now.
“If I hadn’t gone through what I went through, I wouldn’t be the man I am today. I think it empowered me. I think it gave me my voice,” he told Fox News Digital at the 2023 CMAs. “It taught me a lot about overcoming. It taught me a lot about change and the ability to change.
“I was a terrible human being for decades, and just to be able to turn that around and put a message in music and help people… and try to give back as much as I can in every way I can is a great sign of that.” Where I am, where I came from and how important it is for me to always get back.”
During his time in prison, he earned his GED and enrolled in Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. He also found a Christian program called Jericho that connected him more deeply with his faith.
In an interview with Fox News Digital ahead of the 2024 CMT Music Awards, Jelly Roll revealed that his faith in God has been his “driving force.”
“I was confident it would work for me,” he said. “Can you imagine being a 37-year-old, unsuccessful musician when you told people this is your job?”
The Tennessee native rose to prominence in 2021 with his album, “Ballad of the Broken,” but had been working for years to move up in the music world, first in hip hop, then country.
“It wasn’t something I did on the side. Like, it was my job. Jelly Roll said, and I always believed that God had a greater purpose for what I was trying to do.
In her acceptance speech at the 2024 iHeartRadio Awards, she explained how faith guided her journey.
“What does it mean when a guy like me gets the opportunity to be the new pop artist of the year [the] iHeartRadio Awards? “This means that God will use the least likely messenger with the greatest message every time,” he said.
Jelly Roll is using his status as a public figure to speak out on issues that have affected his life.
In January, he testified before congress Regarding the fentanyl crisis, his past as a drug dealer was highlighted.
“I was part of the problem. I stand here now as someone who wants to be part of the solution,” he testified.
He pointed out that this is not a “victimless crime” and its mother his 16 year old daughter Is addicted to drugs.
“Every day I see the effects of drugs in the eyes of a victim in my home. Every day. And every day, my wife and I wonder whether today will be the day I have to tell our daughter that her mother has become part of the national statistic.
He called on Congress to be “proactive and not reactive” and pass the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, legislation that targets Chinese chemical suppliers and Mexican drug cartels that are trafficking fentanyl with restrictions.
Jelly Roll has also opened a Youth Campus for Empowerment at the Davidson County Juvenile Justice Center in Nashville, where he was once incarcerated. he told local Fox affiliate WZTV During this groundbreaking work he hoped to improve conditions to help other struggling teenagers.
“Get rid of things that make you feel like a caged animal,” he told the outlet, according to People. “Make these kids feel loved and give them a chance in life. Many of these children are victims of their circumstances. “This is a great opportunity to really change things.”
He also donated a recording studio to the center in May.
During his interview on “On Purpose”, Jelly Roll said that he had a “victim mentality” before turning his life around.
“I was frustrated and confused. I was a frustrated, confused dreamer and the frustration part got me into a lot of trouble,” he said. “I encourage those who have delusional dreamers. Be a delusional dreamer. You know, just don’t be a desperate delusional dreamer. But I was definitely intentionally making terrible decisions. I was just so angry. I was so crazy about life. Anything that wasn’t right was everyone’s fault except mine. I had such a victim mentality.
“I don’t take any accountability for anything in my life. I was that kid that if you asked what happened, I would immediately start with everything else except myself. …And it took me years to break it, like years of hard work, solid work, to break it. It took me many years to forgive that child.
