Rapper Jelly Roll (birth name Jason Deford) is speaking out about his criminal past. Now 39, the Grammy-nominated rapper had a wild youth and multiple run-ins with the law. He opened up about his past to Jay Shetty during an appearance on his “On Purpose” podcast and talked about wanting to make amends. “I really want to have a conversation with them,” he said. “I’ve thought about reaching out. This has been 24 years ago now. And I just don’t know how that would even start — you know, how I would go about it — because sometimes I wonder if they might have even seen me in passing or are aware of my success.” He stated he understood the significance of his crimes. “I would just ask them to understand, I would ask them to just, one, forgive me, because there’s no excuse in that. The first accountability is, no matter how old I was, I had no business taking from anybody,” he said. “Just the entitlement that I had, this, the world owed me enough that I could come take your stuff.” He noted how many of the choices of his youth lacked logic. “There was no logic to what I did. It made absolutely no sense. And I learned so much from it and the way that I interact with people.”

Deford was arrested around 40 times for incidents involving drugs and robbery. In 2023, he told Joe Rogan of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” “we robbed a couple of guys for some weed,” and that, “It was a heinous crime, admittedly… It was an armed robbery. We went in there with a gun. I regret it every day of my life. I’ve carried that inexpugnable felony for 20-something years.” Records from the Davidson County Criminal Court showed that he was arrested as an adult in 2002 at the age of 18 for two counts of aggravated battery. He would be sentenced to 8 years in prison and 7 years of probation. He was released early from the Tennessee Department of Corrections but arrested again 2008 for possession with intent to sell and sentenced again.

Since his career took off, Deford has sought to clean up his act and advocate against drug use. He has donated money to build a recording studio at the detention center where he spent time as a youth. His past crimes have complicated his career somewhat, as his felonies have prevented him from traveling to certain countries for an international tour. “It’s funny, America has finally agreed to let me leave and give me a passport, but some countries won’t let me come because of my felonies,” he told People. Despite the setbacks, Deford has stated he learned a lot from his mistakes. “I wouldn’t be the man I am today if it wasn’t for what I went through. I think it empowered me. I think it gave me my voice,” he told Fox News Digital last year. “I was a horrible human for decades, and to just be able to turn that around and give a message in the music and help people … and just try to give back as much as I can in every way I can is very indicative of where I came from and how important it is to me to always reach back.” He eventually joined AA and Narcotics Anonymous and obtained his GED. A Christian program called Jericho also helped him pull more solidly into his faith. At the 2024 iHeart Radio Awards, he acknowledged how God had helped him. “What does it mean when a guy like me gets the opportunity to be the new pop artist of the year at [the] iHeartRadio Awards?” he asked. “It means that God will always use the least likely messenger with the biggest message every single time.”