Jelly Roll Reacts to Collaborating With ‘Childhood Hero’ Eminem: ‘Forever Grateful’

12 July, 2024

Jelly Roll checked a historic item off his bucket list when notching a collaboration with Eminem on “Somebody Save Me,” which served as The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce)‘s poignant closer.

Hours after the track made waves on streaming services, Jelly Roll reflected on Friday (July 12) in an emotional post to social media about having the chance to contribute to one of his “childhood hero’s” projects.

“I always say my childhood hero’s lived somewhere between Willie Nelson and Eminem,” he began. “As a teenager (and still today) I could recite every song on the Slim Shady album, the Marshal Mathers album and the Eminem show. When I bonded out of jail at 17 years old and was sneaking into cyphers and battles in Nashville they would also play the ‘lose yourself’ beat when I came out on stage at the freestyle battles. I related to every word Eminem wrote. I understand him and felt like he understood me, which was rare cause I spent most of my life feeling misunderstood.”

Jelly Roll continued: “So you can imagine how I felt when I got that the call that Eminem would be sampling my song “Save Me” on his new album. And for him to use the song to discuss the other side of what could’ve happened if he would’ve allowed his demons to win brought me to tears. If you haven’t heard it yet, check out “Somebody Save Me” on Eminem’s new album ‘the death of slim shady’ special shout out to Paul Rosenberg , you’ve been nothing but kind to me and treated me like family and gave me opportunities I didn’t deserve, forever grateful.”

Rapper Chris Webby hopped into his comments to put the seminal moment in perspective. “Legendary my brother,” he wrote. “I had such a moment listening to that album last night and then when I heard your voice it stirred up crazy emotions in my soul. Hard to even explain it honestly, but I’m so damn proud of you dude.”

“Somebody Save Me” heavily samples Jelly Roll’s “Save Me,” which reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November following a Lainey Wilson remix.

Jelly Roll’s angelic chorus surrounds Eminem vulnerably opening up in a candid letter to his children where he admits his faults as a parent and expresses regret about the past. “They say my lifestyle is bad for my health,” the country star sings. “It’s the only thing that seems to help.”

The Nashville-bred star met Eminem for the first time before hitting the stage together outside the Michigan Central Station venue. The heartfelt embrace was captured by Jelly’s wife, Bunnie XO. “When the goat meets THE GOAT,” she captioned the clip soundtracked by Eminem’s “My Name Is.”

Jelly Roll joined Em on stage at the June show where they performed Slim Shady’s Aerosmith-sampling “Sing For the Moment.”

Check out Jelly Roll’s post below.