My Dear Friends of Inked Almost feel like being called post Malone’s drunk uncles a compliments first of all I might call an album post Malone’s drunk uncle one day I would just like to meet him first to get that clear but if the Outpost comment post I want to talk to you about dropping an album called post Malone’s drunk uncle I want you to do the intro but I don’t.
Want you to rap or sing I just want you to talk my name is jelly roll I am from Nashville Tennessee I grew up in Antioch Tennessee which is right outside of Nashville Tennessee it’s like the South Nashville area and it was just dude it was awesome it was a very Multicultural neighborhood but it was in the South so.
It had a lot of real Southern Roots to it and of course it was in the country music Capital so a lot of music a lot of time I never want to do anything with music I think whenever I was in like third grade they asked what you want to be and kids wrote it down and my mother showed it to me it was the first grade and I had.
Wrote rapper like all these other kids were like firefighter and stuff like this I want to be a rapper that’s what I want to be my brother Scott D Ford had got like the Tupac cross on his chest you’re right across Tupac always path and uh he tattooed on his chest or something I remember being like that’s awesome yeah.
It was definitely the first time I was exposed to one in real life but we were always the kids who would go down on family vacation and do the hennas or the stickies and you know always kind of like fancied ourselves that way too I think it was like a white trash cultural thing for us you know like then as you got older everybody had not only tattoos.
But bad tattoos and there were some tattoo artist in some living room every party tattooing somebody underage you know I don’t remember I was 15 or 16 but a lady in my neighborhood named V Mama V we call her Veda Nukem had passed away of AIDS she had died of HIV and she was like all of our mamas you know to a.
Degree like it was kind of like how my mama was like everybody’s mom was everybody’s Mama kind of that makes sense you know and I got R.I.P Mama V tattooed on my shoulder it was nothing but kitchen magicians with us I’m telling you dude I didn’t get a I don’t think I got a professional tattoo done until I was in my 30s.
Oh listen listen man my father was so against tattoos but he was cool with it he got he got he got with it eventually no well you know I was a you know I was already in trouble so to speak you know the average 15 year old ain’t getting tattoos and kitchens anyways right so I was already you know definitely rode.
Less Traveled kind of kid I think a tattoo was very low on the barometer of trouble in my household my tattoo plan was sticky note style like I was pretty sleeved you know before I was 18. so I think I had a face tattoo went up right around 18. so yeah I was just we were just you know it.
Was more of like it was a cultural thing it was what was happening where we were you know full disclosure I think it was some stoners like you get a tattoo here right or here wherever I got whatever and whatever order had happened and every day you go.
Man you get one here the next next thing you know you’re just [__] playing Tit for Tat is doing the balancing game you know at least that’s how it worked for me I’m sure everybody else had to wait less white trashy story about their tattoos but mine is just like dude we just you know yeah then you just start being like.
Well come and hit that wrist I need to hit that risk if you’ve ever been on a Music Tour tattoos or insane or somebody tattooing every night except for they’re real people now thank God but they’re coming to doing flash bangers on the crew because everybody got drunk and was like we should all get orange juice bottles on us and then everybody goes.
And gets an orange juice bottle on because we tripped acid but that was the theme you know I used to notice people noticing me because of my tattoos way more 10 years ago than you do today you know um but you still notice it happening especially in some of the circles we.
Walk now you know some of the neighborhoods I’m in now I wasn’t previously allowed in so definitely getting a little second gander having people notice me for my tattoos never bothered me and I never thought of I never care I think feel like we were just always [__] you know if.
We were outside of our bubble [__] looked at us anyways right I don’t know if it was the tattoos or the wife beaters or the dirty shoes or you know the dreadlocks or the braids or you know we had or the gold teeth we were just getting stared out weird anywhere that wasn’t home anyways then you go home and everybody looks like you.
You know she’s like I don’t know are they wrong or are we wrong you know what I’m saying I jumped off the face tattoo Cliff rather early I did it small at first I think it was like the little cross and the couple of the in one of the tiers the blue tier I feel like once you hit the knuckles you’re you signed out once.
You once you do the hands and the neck that’s my argument with people like oh we can’t do our face but they’ll be literally tattooed from like throat line down you know what I’m saying in hands sub Knuckles cover like not doing my face I’m like why not you know what I’m saying why stop there.
You know you’re yeah but and I also don’t think it’s going to matter I think in 20 years people with face tattoos are going to be running Fortune 500 companies you know it’s getting to the point now where the new Rebels are going to be the people who never get tattooed I never thought I.
Would be around long enough to catch on both sides of the tattoo trim but I’ve had on that [__] long I caught forgetting face tattoos earlier because oh my God your face tattoos not everybody has face tattoos and on the second side of the tattoo error I catch it now because some guy will troll me on Twitter and be like look at post.
Malone’s drunk uncle and I’m like first of all I’m a huge Post Fan but I had face tattoos when he was pooping green you know what I’m saying like I caught it on both sides now some kid on a skateboard stops me we’re gonna fit post Malone it’s like me well I knew that I knew that it was music or bus for me.
Anyways so I might have subconsciously got to face tattoos just in confidence that was like I’m either going to be in and out of the penal system or making music the rest of my life like that’s just what I knew would be the case you know what I mean I regret almost every tattoo I’ve got for sure these are all bad tattoos man I.
Seen one of these some of these guns getting made out of cassette tape players in jail I have an unfinished Jesus hanging off the cross on my back and it’s so bad my wife thought it was Elvis Presley that’s that’s how bad it is it was a pick and poke and it was brutal and I just couldn’t take it and I.
Gave up on it really fast no but luckily I’m fat never take my shirt off anyways so nobody ever sees it but I’ll never forget I was walking to the bathroom one night chest puffed out like I was peacocking just having a great night with my wife and she looks at me and goes hey turn around is that Elvis on your back.
No Jesus though very close it’s Jesus here’s my advice to people find a good artist start there find a good artist that simple and and let that come up with a vision and do it all with that person I am often facetious about how many of.
My tattoos I regret but it’s more in satire than anything I appreciate everything I got and I I do remember where I was in my life when I got them all some of them are less fun to explain but that’s the hardest part of having a tattoo that had a questionable moment right in your life when you’re like yeah.
We’re gonna explain that one to you but no I definitely appreciate everything I’ve done I wouldn’t take any of them back I would not do it I just do it smarter I think that’s how we do everything right you know Bounty bonds you know the obvious you know but yeah but somewhere in that list of things I’d have did it a little.
Different the way I’ve approached this was great for the memories I wish I’d have done what my smart friends did and had a memory arm or a memory leg you know what I’m saying and that’s like that’s their memory leg where mine’s just all memories most of them in hindsight at that period of my life wasn’t great ones because I was making.
Horrible decisions every day outside of just tattoos so you look down but I like some of my newer tattoos I think are the ones that I love because I actually you know it’s weird enough I have Music Man tattooed on my forehead and my wife has married a music man but I thought about it I love that tattoo as corny as it looks.
Because it’s a true representation of who I am and who I’ll be the rest of my life where some of these tattoos are represent representation of who I was when I was inmate zero three six four nine five oh right and that’s but that’s cool too though because it’s constant humility plus dude listen you’re not my friend if you don’t have a bad tattoo on.
You man if you [__] if you’re all good tattooed you didn’t have enough in life for me I think there’s a balance you’ve got to have bad tattoos and good tattoos and make sure the good tattoos are visible and the bad tattoos are not so much y’all are welcome y’all it’s a seminar I should take this Tour on the road and.
Teach the youth
When Jason DeFord (known to the world as Jelly Roll) got his first professional tattoo, he was already mostly covered. That’s just the way it was growing up in south Nashville; there was always a kitchen magician ready to throw some ink on you. We spoke with Jelly Roll about the powerful meaning behind his first ink, getting called Post Malone’s drunk uncle and much more in this episode of Heavily Inked. Be on the lookout for even more with Jelly Roll in our March 2023 issue hitting newsstands soon.
Presented by Mad Rabbit: https://www.youtube.com/c/MadRabbitTattoo
Jelly Roll: https://www.instagram.com/jellyroll615/
Thumbnail photo by Dylan Schattman: https://www.instagram.com/dylnfshr/
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