Jelly Roll shares how he nearly lost hope for his collaboration with Eminem, giving him props as one of the greatest rappers ever.

In a recent chat with Bootleg Kev, Jelly Roll talked about a dream collaboration with Eminem, “Somebody Save Me”, and his admiration for Slim Shady:

Marshall’s the GOAT. Anybody who says Eminem’s not the greatest rapper ever is just lying. They’re allowing other factors to get involved. We’ll never see nobody better. I think there will be, I don’t think that I’ll live long enough to see it.

As for how the collab came together, Jelly credits Paul Rosenberg, Eminem’s longtime manager, as the real connection. It turns out that Paul and Jelly’s manager, John, had a longstanding friendship that dates back to their work on “Renegade” for Jay-Z. So, when they reached out, Jelly Roll was ready:

I didn’t even know I was on Em’s radar. I just assumed that if I had a chance to be on his radar, it would have been a decade ago when I wrote a 10-minute freestyle. Apparently, he dug the record. When they initially called, they just said, “Send it”, with no context. And for Eminem, I don’t need any context. You tell me he wants me, I send the stems, send the vocals we didn’t use if he wants to go recop, send him everything.

Initially, he thought it might be a remix, but as time went on, the news dropped that “Somebody Save Me” would be on Em’s new  album.

I thought he was going to send me a verse, and I was just going to have a remix in my phone. Him, Drake, Wain — I’ve watched these guys do it over the years randomly, just throw somebody one. I was like, I might get one. It turned out even cooler than getting one. It turned out that it ended up being for his album.

The wait was long enough that Jelly admits he started doubting it would happen at all, but hearing his work made the cut was worth it.

I didn’t hear much about it for a year or eight months. I don’t know, I’m lost, but it was definitely enough time that I had gotten sad, that’s the best way to put it. It was long enough that I had come to the conclusion it wasn’t gonna to happen. Then John calls me. He’s like, “Em’s gonna put this on his record”. Then I saw “Houdini” drop. I was like, maybe. Maybe. This could be real. My fear was he just didn’t drop at all. But I had a feeling that it was going to happen. And it did.

Doing the video with him, he’s been nothing but kind. Nothing but kind, funny, genuine.

Jelly Roll added this comment, summing up his experience with the Detroit icon. For Jelly Roll, working with Em was more than just a career highlight; it was a full-circle moment with one of his heroes.

Watch the video below: