Admittedly I was busy watching football all weekend so I didn’t tune into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, but the internet has been a firestorm of activity because of one performance in particular.
Unfortunately, this is not one of those “so-and-so absolutely crushed a cover of this classic song” type of posts.
Saturday night, during a 5 and a half hour long production at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, eight artists/bands were inducted into the prestigious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang, Ozzy Osbourne, and A Tribe Called Quest.
To honor these musicians, a number of guests took the stage to perform covers of the inductee’s classic songs, including Dua Lipa, Kenny Chesney, Busta Rhymes, and Maynard James Keenan, but it was a stripped-down version of Ozzy Osborne’s “Mama I’m Coming Home” from Jelly Roll that many people took issue with.
Admittedly, I don’t think it was Jelly’s best work. The sound at shows like this is always questionable, especially when pumped through TV speakers, and though he really dug in and added the soul he’s known for in the cover, something just felt off.
Take a look for yourself:
Yeah, just not the best… and even some of his fans agreed as much.
Well, other people were quick to fire off on Jelly Roll, something that’s not new as the rapper turned country star curates a lot of very strong opinions from people across the musical spectrum, especially since his rise to fame happened in a very short amount of time.
https://twitter.com/BornTooLate1975/status/1847864991342604654
Someone else we need a break from: Jelly Roll. He’s been shown 8 times since the rock and roll hall of fame show started.
— Paul Lambert (@MeatSauce1) October 19, 2024
I've been watching video from last nights Rock Hall ceremony and have to say I was really disappointed with the Ozzy tribute. I'm not a Jelly Roll fan, and I respect his music and what he has accomplished, but why was he selected to sing this song? Doesn't work at all! https://t.co/5kkHWOvGmt
— 𝐌𝐲𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 (@RockTheseTweets) October 20, 2024
don't blame him for seizing the opp to do this but…oh brother, this is not good. https://t.co/SaD3Q1fs5O
— MC Larny (@mclarny_acsdwn) October 21, 2024
I like Jelly Roll not love. But this is like a drunk guy doing Karaoke!! https://t.co/TjgfCDjUif
— Grungy Geezers (@GrungyGeezers) October 20, 2024
This is one of the worst things I’ve ever heard from someone giving an earnest performance https://t.co/r6tTDPj1PT
— bjctwjks (@BCacciato) October 20, 2024
Catching flack is nothing new for Jelly Roll.
Country fans tend to be split on whether his music truly belongs in the genre (which can be said about quite a few of our biggest stars) and his openness to talking about his marriage with Bunnie XO and past life problems also creates some tension with some of the pearl-clutching (older, more traditional) country music public. But overall, with his larger than life personality, positive attitude and the uplifting message of his music, Jelly is pretty well-liked in the mainstream country music industry. However, this ceremony wasn’t just for country music fans. Lots of music fans outside of the country music world tuned into this event, ones who probably have no idea how much Jelly Roll has taken off in the past year or so.
And last night, Jelly seemed to reach a breaking point, posting on Twitter/X that he may be done with the app for good due to all the negativity coming his way:
“This is for sure the most toxic negative app to exist ever — PERIOD. lol. This place is different man, I always heard it was the Wild West on here but man it’s insane . It’s a safe place for everyone to say mean shit to each other with no consequences. I’m out lol”
This is for sure the most toxic negative app to exist ever — PERIOD. lol. This place is different man, I always heard it was the Wild West on here but man it’s insane . It’s a safe place for everyone to say mean shit to each other with no consequences. I’m out lol
— Jelly Roll (@JellyRoll615) October 20, 2024
Naturally people are going to have different definitions of “toxic” and some were quick to fire back with screenshots of some of his posts they deemed to fit the criteria. There were also many, many people calling him soft for leaving and an opponent of free speech:
https://t.co/5ojA7Xblr7 pic.twitter.com/SDuuqvmWOI
— Johnny Thomas (@_JohnnyThomas) October 20, 2024
People speak their mind and your mangina gets hurt. Yah you need to be on one them other apps where your feels are protected a bit more from all these harsh words. LMAO govern me harder daddy! Take these folks first amendment away cause it hurts my feels 😔 https://t.co/KcAI3y8y0J
— Maine Coon Cats (@cooncatcrazy) October 21, 2024
Why don't you like free speech and why are you still on here when you said "I'm out". Love you and love your music, but don't go woke Brother. Because things will change for you drastically.#GoWokeGoBroke https://t.co/bz3WRvWhHZ
— Paul Womack (@13molon) October 21, 2024
Other encouraged him to block out the hate and find the good stuff:
X can be super harsh for sure. If you find a suitable way to navigate it, you can access people and information in some great ways too. Everyone will have a different level of tolerance though. https://t.co/vyvAuxrdzb
— Zach Bitter (@zbitter) October 21, 2024
All in all, Jelly Roll does seem like a guy who actually cares about people and wants everyone to be happy. He clearly loves what he does and is enjoying success after many years in the music industry, which is something that we should appreciate.
Twitter/X is a harsh place, there’s no denying that, and I believe it would be better if people would hold their tongue and not try to conjure up the meanest insults imaginable to get interactions, but that’s the world we live in. I wouldn’t blame Jelly one bit if he turns the keys to his social media over to a PR team and just goes on about his business. Honestly, I think it would do us all good to use social media less.
You don’t have to like Jelly Roll’s music, heck a lot of his recent stuff hasn’t really clicked with me, but we don’t have to attack him because of it. Though, in all fairness, Jelly does portray himself as the “don’t give a s**t” type of artist, so I understand why people view this as a bit hypocritical, though the hate he gets online really is over the top at times. It’s pretty clear he’s a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve… Twitter is a tough place for that.
I don’t really know how to end this other than maybe we should all be a bit nicer to each other? Yeah, I think that would probably be a good thing.
