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I read a clickbait garbage article about the singer/rapper Jellyroll, stating that he is continuing to "work on himself" and asks for forgiveness from the people he robbed at gunpoint as a minor. I don't know much more than that about his story, and frankly have no real interest in learning. Regardless, while I feel that a person who has paid their debt to society should have every right to earn a living and do what they can to live their life, I feel like using prison time and hyper-public piety to catapult towards success as some sort of redemption story is tacky at best, and still emblematic of some of the narcissistic traits that put them in jail to begin with. Despite the obvious overgeneralization here, what do you think about the criminal-turned-superstar trope?

That Jelly Roll guy. Yeah. Spent time in prison. Addict. Etc. Not someone who I would be inclined to be fond of given the high-level description of him. But have to admit, I saw his performance on a recent episode of SNL and I kinda liked it. Much better than I thought it would be.

Hey, the guy's got talent and people like him. And his criminal days seem to be behind him. Fame? Why not?

Addiction is horrible and causes people to do horrible things; not lost on me. However, when the redemption arc seems to be the fame-driver more than the actual talent, it seems that people are turned onto the artist for the wrong reasons.

The narcissist angle is what I'm getting caught on. Part of the criminal behavior, addiction related or not, is rooted in superior self image. This is cog skills 101. And the hope through rehabilitation is to gain some sort of self awareness of this and internalize some true humility. And I don't equate fame with humility, generally speaking.

But being famous for non-talent-related reasons or feeding narcissistic personalities is like.. most famous people. At least this is a new version of it* that's not having famous parents or making a sex tape. Maybe it's even 'inspiring' to someone.

His music is confused crap though.

*err maybe not.. plenty of rap examples of this

Gangster Rap, Outlaw Country....both high points of the respective genres. I'm more offended by having to see this Jellyroll fucker all up in my T-mobile adverts or whatever they've got him doing.

i was introduced to jelly roll on several billboards outside sturgis, sd. but i still don't know what he sounds like. if he's not violent anymore, n/c. time will tell.

Jelly Roll sucks shit, i guess I have no idea who you have in mind as a generalization. Ezra Pound? Maybe this is a dig at fm Gramsci ? lol

Mike Ness milked his short prison stint to some acclaim, but nothing like Jelly Roll. So did Johnny Cash, and he was never incarcerated.

If you're in jail on drug charges or the like, I think you deserve a second chance. Hell, I guess everyone does unless they're some monster like Dahmer or OJ. I know nothing of JR aside from him being large and heavily tattooed.

People like a redemption story, and hardships can make us more poetic. I do think it’s wack when a certain type of White person does it with the subtext that they got some “soul” while in lockup. But if we dismiss every musician who did some time before they found success, we’d lose a lot of valuable Black music. The difference is, Jelly Roll didn’t get locked up for being white. But he should have been incarcerated for stealing his name from a Creole bandleader.

I think it's ok but then again I am actually Dave from Dave's Killer Bread, so I may be biased.