Jelly Roll is opening up about his battle with food addiction, revealing he’s now got a hold on things and has shed over 100 pounds and counting.
In a new conversation with PEOPLE published on Wednesday (November 20), Jelly got candid about his journey.
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“The battle was with the food addiction, changing the way I’ve looked at food for the last 39 years,” he said. “Nobody in my house ever had [a healthy relationship with food], so that was the hard part. But once you get into that discipline and commitment, it’s like an avalanche. Once that little snowball started rolling, it was on its way.”
He revealed that he’s changed how he moves on tour, with a routine that now includes daily basketball games and better food choices.
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“It’s cool because there was once a time in life that the culture I built on tour was the opposite,” he added. “It revolved around alcohol and drugs. And now our tour culture is around good eating and around exercising and doing emotional check-ins with our crew every day.”
Jelly Roll actually got a chance to play basketball on the Charlotte Hornets’ actual court while on tour earlier this month – and he was joined by none other than North Carolina native J. Cole. Hornets forward Grant Williams joined as well.
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In an Instagram video showing the day’s events, Jelly seemed to be surprised by Cole’s entrance to the arena.
“You doing this with us is true to the legend of who you are as a human,” he told him.
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A pickup game with Cole hasn’t been Jelly Roll’s only major win lately. He is set to appear on Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre‘s forthcoming Missionary album, and now that the news is out, he’s sharing the story of how it came to be.
Talking with Bootleg Kev for his eponymous podcast in an episode published on October 24, an excited Jelly recalled the FaceTime that sparked it all.
“I won’t say anything about the record because he didn’t, but man, it’s special. It is really good,” he gushed. “I’m legitimately on the Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre album. It’s crazy. It’s unreal. Dude, Jimmy [Iovine] hits John [presumably Jelly Roll’s manager John Meneilly] and says, ‘Can we get on a FaceTime with Jelly Roll and Dre?’ I’m like, ‘Dr. Dre?!’ I get on a FaceTime from my back porch. I’m like a kid! Jimmy’s there and I’m already like, ‘I cannot believe it’s Jimmy Iovine.’”
When Dre got on the phone, according to Jelly: “[He said,] ‘I got this crazy idea. I can send you something, or you can write something and send it back, or you can come here and we can write something.’ When he said that, I was like, there’s no way he expected me to do any other option. I was like, ‘If coming and writing with you is an option, I’m coming.’”
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He continued: “It was the most awesome session I ever did. I walked in was just like, the biggest warm hug. […] It was really fun. […] I had a moment where I was like, I belong in those rooms! [In my mind], I’m still the kid coming to the lunch table. I wanna prove that I deserve the table and I came in with that kind of attitude and it was really cool.”
Missionary is due out December 13.
