Jelly Roll is on the run of a lifetime. He's winning countless awards, performing with all-time greats, improving his lifestyle. He can't lose right now. Now, he knocks off another huge bucket list moment.
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One of hip-hop's biggest living icons Eminem performs on a special for NBC, "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central." In hopes of making it one of the biggest events of the year, the rapper dips into his catalog and highlights the city's rich history. In doing so, he cosigns Jelly Roll in a surprise appearance.
It makes sense why Eminem taps him for this show. Obviously, there's a sense of relatability to this. They're both incredibly open and vulnerable about substance use and mental health. With that tendency to bear their souls, a lot of their audience tends to intersect. Furthermore, Eminem knows Jelly used to be a rapper before his country music acclaim. They essentially speak the same language. Only difference is, Slim Shady didn't pivot to Nashville to expand his audience.
Jelly Roll Calls Eminem Performance "Coolest Moment of My Career"
In the heat of the moment, it is evident Jelly is still feeling incredibly surreal in all of this. Entertainment Tonight caught up with him in the aftermath of the show to see how he's taking in everything. "When I think about coolest moments of my career, right now at the top, there has to be this thing that I got to go sing with Eminem in Detroit," he grins. "I got to sing 'Sing for the Moment' with him, which is a record where he sampled Steven Tyler. I mean, just what an incredible night and I got to go do it in Detroit. It was unreal."
He goes on to detail how this monumental moment came together. He tells ET, "Em reached out, his team reached out and said, 'Would you be interested in doing this since he was already there doing the secret tribute?' I couldn't believe it. I thought it was a joke until I met Eminem himself."
Ultimately, you can see on Jelly Roll's face just how big of a moment this was for him. He reflects, "I was giddy, like a child. You could see it all over my performance. Just the kid in me. I thought the camera was off of me. So as soon as I get through singing, I'm like, whoa, I just let this steamroller out. It's really cool."
His tender care and emotion going into these moments shows just how much the country heavyweight cares about impacting people's lives. He deserves it.
