Jason DeFord was born December 4, 1984, known professionally as Jelly Roll (sometimes written as Jelly Roll), is an American rapper and country singer known for his collaborations with Lil Wyte, Struggle Jennings, Yelawolf, Tech N9ne, and Ryan Upchurch. He grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, in the southside community of Antioch. Jelly Roll’s 2010 collaboration “Pop Another Pill” with Memphis rapper Lil Wyte reached over 6.3 million YouTube views. This song led to the album Year Round by the hip-hop group SNO, released on the Hypnotize Minds label in April 2011 and produced by DJ Paul and Juicy J.

SNO’s song “Come Here White Girl” was named among “The 10 Most Memorable White Rapper Collaborations” by XXL. Jelly Roll released many mixtapes including the Gamblin’ on a Whiteboy series and the Therapeutic Music series. His independently released debut solo studio album The Big Sal Story was released in 2012. He released two collaborative albums with Haystak, two collaborative albums with Lil Wyte, four collaborative albums with Struggle Jennings and one album under the group SNO with Lil Wyte and BPZ. Jelly Roll’s 2013 mixtape Whiskey, Weed, & Women was originally named Whiskey, Weed, & Waffle House, but was later changed after the restaurant threatened legal action over the use of their name and logo on the cover. The replacement cover featured a “cease and desist” stamp in place of the Waffle House logo. Jelly Roll is married to Bunnie DeFord aka Bunnie XO and has two children from a previous relationship. Welcome one and all to CRS 2023! In this issue we focus on our New Music Awards 2023 with some exciting and groundbreaking nominees. You can help turn nominations into well-deserved wins by your votes at NewMusicAwards.com.  A special congrats to Jelly Roll & to our many New Music Award nominees.