JellyRoll

Jason DeFord, known professionally as Jelly Roll, (born December 4, 1986) is an American rapper known for his collaborations with Lil Wyte, Haystak and Struggle Jennings. He gained national and international attention after a legal dispute with Waffle House.

Early life

DeFord grew up in Nashville, particularly the Southside community of Antioch. He received the nickname "JellyRoll" from his mother and kept it to honor an incarcerated friend. DeFord was incarcerated himself at age 14, which precipitated an ongoing cycle of incarceration until 2009 which included a drug possession conviction.^[1] Following the styles of UGK, 8Ball & MJG, Three 6 Mafia, Chamillionare and Paul Wall, JellyRoll began crafting his own rhymes as a "therapeutic means" to deal with difficult situations.^[2]

Music

In the summer of 2010, Jelly Roll's Pop Another Pill collaboration with Memphis rapper Lil Wyte would go on to get over 1 million YouTube views. This song lead to the SNO group album Year Round released on Hypnotize Minds in April 2011, a project executive-produced by Oscar winners DJ Paul and Juicy J. SNO release Come Here White Girl was named among "The 10 Most Memorable White Rapper Collaborations" by XXL.^[3]

Jelly Roll has released numerous mixtapes including the Gamblin' on a Whiteboy series and the Therapeuitic Music series. He has also released only one solo studio album, the independently released "The Big Sal Story", two collaboration albums with Haystak, two collaboration albums with Lil Wyte, one collaboration album with Struggle Jennings and one album under the group SNO with Lil Wyte and BPZ.

Jelly Roll's mixtape Whiskey, Weed, & Women was originally named "Whiskey, Weed, & Waffle House" but was later changed after Waffle House threatened to sue over the use of their name and logo on the cover. The replacement cover instead includes a "cease & desist" stamp where the Waffle House logo was.^[4] JellyRoll estimated that the dispute had cost him close to $10,000 but later said he couldn't help but continue to eat at Waffle House.^[5]

Haystak & Jelly Roll's first collaboration album Strictly Business made it to 16 on the Billboard top Heatseekers chart,^[6] and 67 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart.^[7][8] Their second album "Business As Usual" reached 11 on the Billboard top Heatseekers chart.^[9]

Lil Wyte and Jelly Roll's album No Filter reached number 33 on the Billboard top R&B albums chart, 42 on the Billboard top Independent albums, and 17 on the top Rap albums chart.^[10]

On January 1, 2017 Jelly Roll was invited to participate in the Juggalo March On Washington. He accepted on January 2, 2017.^[11] He has performed at the 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 Gathering of the Juggalos.

Discography

References