But he still struggles to reconcile that hopeless past with his prosperous present and seemingly limitless future. Jelly (whose mother christened him with the nickname when he was little) has risen from the streets of Antioch to the upper reaches of Billboard’s rap, rock and now country charts, and even played the revered Grand Ole Opry. “It’s the f–king wildest story ever to me - maybe because I’m the one f–king in the middle of it - but that sh-t’s crazy.” The 38-year-old - now better known as the inspirational, tattoo-covered artist Jelly Roll - recently returned to the church for the first time in decades. “I got baptized in here some 20 years ago and have since done nothing but go to prison, treat a bunch of people wrong, make a lot of mistakes in life, turn it around, go on to be a f–king multimillionaire and help as many people as I possibly can,” says DeFord today, a hint of awe in his voice as he sits in a red upholstered pew at Whitsitt Chapel. For the next decade, DeFord cycled in and out of juvenile and then adult correctional facilities for crimes ranging from aggravated robbery to drug dealing. By the end of that year, he was incarcerated for the first, but not the last, time. In January 1999, one month after he turned 14, Jason DeFord was baptized by full immersion at Whitsitt Chapel Baptist Church in Antioch, Tenn. Jelly Roll: Photos From the Billboard Cover Shoot
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