Country music star Jelly Roll has promised to unveil the more unsavory aspects of the music industry. The “Save Me” hitmaker recently took to social media to express his frustration with the business side of his craft, hinting at revelations to come.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason DeFord, didn’t mince words: “Learned a lot about how slimy the music business is this week, don’t worry yall know I’m going to expose it soon. This whole thing is smoke and mirrors yall.” The artist’s statement has left fans and industry insiders alike speculating about the nature of his grievances.
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Jelly Roll’s outburst drew parallels to hip-hop artist Q-Tip’s lyrics from “Check The Rhime” three decades ago, warning about the shadowy nature of record company executives — “Industry rule number four thousand and eighty/Record company people are shady.” The country star’s experience suggests that such issues persist across genres and generations in the music world.
Intriguingly, Jelly Roll referenced another outspoken artist in his post, stating, “All that s— Russ be talking about is REAL!” This nod to Russ, a rapper known for his candid critiques of the music industry, adds weight to Jelly Roll’s claims. Russ has previously gone viral for his exposés on industry practices, particularly regarding the manipulation of streaming numbers and the concentration of power among a select few individuals.
In a recent appearance on Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant podcast, which boasts 1.76 million subscribers, Russ elaborated on these issues. He explained, “I learned that the whole industry is ran by… it’s a couple people. You know that guy at Spotify, that guy at Apple, you know this person at Rhythm Radio and this person at Urban Radio… between four people you can run the whole sh—.”
Russ also alleged that major record labels engage in purchasing fake streams, treating it as a “marketing expense” to boost artists’ apparent popularity. When questioned about the methods of this practice, Russ stated, “They never disclose the mechanics of how they actually fake the streams. But the reality is the labels are spending money… devil’s advocate, they’re treating it like a marketing expense. Because, in a sense, it almost is.”
However, Jelly Roll was quick to temper expectations about the nature of his revelations. In a follow-up post, he clarified, “Man yall made a mountain out of a molehill with this one. All these weirdly over dramatic comments about selling souls and satanic weird sh— is just weird lol. I’ll be talking about all this on my wife’s podcast soon.” This statement suggests that while Jelly Roll has grievances with the industry, they may not be as sensational as some fans have speculated.
Jelly Roll’s road to stardom has been anything but conventional. The Tennessee native rose to prominence in 2021 with his album Ballad of the Broken, but his success did not come easily. Before breaking through in country music, Jelly Roll tried his hand at hip-hop and faced numerous personal challenges, including stints in juvenile detention and prison.
Despite the hardships and his current frustrations with the music business, Jelly Roll attributes much of his success to his faith. In an interview with Fox News Digital ahead of the 2024 CMT Music Awards, he shared, “Faith was a lot of me believing it was going to work out for me. Could you imagine being a 37-year-old, unsuccessful musician when you told people that was your job?” He added, “It wasn’t like something I did on the side. Like, it was my job. And I just always had faith that God had a bigger purpose for what I was trying to do.”
