Jason Bradley DeFord, known professionally by the stage name Jelly Roll, is an American rapper and multi-genre singer/songwriter. In 2023, he won three CMT Music Awards for the song “Son of a Sinner”.
Early Life and Childhood
Jelly Roll (real name Jason DeFord) was born in Nashville and raised in the suburbs of Antioch. His birthday is December 4, 1984. He wrote his first rap when he was 9 or 10 years old and shared his mixtape in eighth grade. After his imprisonment, he returned to music, self-released albums, and shared his music on YouTube. He debuted on the Billboard charts in 2011 with his sophomore release “Strictly Business” on the RandB/Hip-Hop Albums chart, peaking at number 67. In 2020, A Beautiful Disaster peaked at number 97 on the Billboard 200, while in 2023 .. his first major chart hit: “Whitsitt Chapel,” which peaked at No. 3. His first song to enter the Hot 100 was 2022’s “Son of a Sinner” (No. 31). He counts Lainey Wilson, Yelawolf, Brantley Gilbert and Tech N9ne among his collaborators.
Jelly Roll grew up in Antioch, a culturally diverse working-class suburb south of downtown Nashville. His father was a butcher who ran bookies, while his mother struggled with her mental health and addiction. He was arrested for the first time when he was 14 and spent the next decade in juvenile facilities and prison for crimes including robbery and possession for sale.
Love Life and Relationship
Jelly Roll is married to Bunnie DeFord aka Bunnie XO and has one daughter born in 2008 and one son born in 2016 from previous relationships.
Jelly Roll is a proud and protective dad to two children: daughter Bailee Ann and son Noah Buddy. The singer once again spoke about how the birth of her daughter in 2008 changed her life forever.
Career and Net Worth
Inspired by southern rappers like Three 6 Mafia, UGK, 8ball, and MJG, Jelly Roll started writing his own rhymes and got serious about music after finding out he had a now 15-year-old daughter. He began touring incessantly, eventually amassing hundreds of songs. Of millions of streams with almost no mainstream visibility.
While Jelly Roll had several previous singles that went gold, it was his 2020 song “Save Me,” a bluesy ballad sung with a pinch of acoustic guitar that really took off. Emotional and desperate, it was written on Sunday, recorded and filmed on Monday, posted to YouTube on Tuesday, and immediately exploded, garnering more than 165 million views. Until now. He did the track for the new album as a duet with rising star Lainey Wilson.
American rapper Jelly Roll’s Net Worth is estimated to be $6 million in 2023. Jelly Roll has a YouTube account where he posts all his music videos and vlogs. He started on December 8, 2009, and has over 1.63 million subscribers. His wife, Bunnie Xo, has appeared in several of his music videos, including “Dance With Ghosts,” “A Beautiful Disaster,” and more. He also made headlines for a dispute with Waffle House.