Flavor Flav Says Pal Jelly Roll Is ‘One of the Most Positive People’

Flavor Flav is seemingly everywhere these days. The Public Enemy hype man who became Team USA’s number one athletic supporter this summer when he opened his heart, and wallet, to help Team U.S.A.’s water polo squad — and other athletes — has made a number of new industry friends during this year of the Flavaissance.

But few have had as much of an impact was rapper-turned-country superstar Jelly Roll. In an interview with People magazine, Flav, 65, describes what it is about Jelly, 39, that he finds so endearing and inspiring. “I’m proud to say it… that’s my guy,” said Flav, who the magazine said put on a Jelly Roll T-shirt during the interview.

“Let me tell you something: Jelly Roll is one of the most positive people right now, man. And his music is so positive, so dope and it ways so much,” Flav added of the singer who gearing up to release Beautifully Broken (Oct. 11), the follow-up to his 2023 breakthrough album Whitsitt Chapel. “And not only that, but Jelly Roll’s music helped out a lot of people that have been down, you know what I’m saying? And the whole nine.”

And while they don’t seem to have a lot in common on the surface, Flav said he thinks he and Jelly essentially serve the same purpose in their music. “That’s another role that I play. I play the role like a Jelly Roll, you know what I’m saying? Because there’ll be a lot of people that be down in life and when they see me, I brighten up their day and it takes away that negativity that’s going on inside of them,” said Flav, whose indefatigable energy and positive vibes are always on full display in much the same way Jelly uses his music to speak to others who are struggling in an effort to lift them up. “Jelly Roll has the same effect. So me and Jelly Roll have something in common, man.”

The two men’s bourgeoning relationship has been chronicled on social media over the past year, including their meet cute in Sept. 2023 backstage, in which Jelly told Flav how much he loved him as the PE rapper casually dropped a bunch of Jelly’s song titles to prove his superfandom. “I’m just the son of a sinner man… I’m just one drink away from the devil,” Flav joked. In December, Jelly posted an Instagram video in which Flav brought him a birthday cake before his slot at last year’s Jingle Ball.

They also hung on the red carpet at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles in April and Flav spoke out in support of Jelly later that month when some online trolls were bullying the singer over his weight.

“On a personal note, Jelly Roll is one of the nicest, one of the absolute nicest men on the planet,” Flav said at the time. “A lot of people would love to be like Jelly Roll. All y’all trying to judge my boy Jelly Roll, I think y’all need to take a step back and judge yourself.”

Flav also introduced Jelly Roll at his The Night Before show in Detroit in April and was spotted shouting along to “Somebody Save Me” at one of Jelly’s shows in August.