J.I.D Reveals Why His Version Of Frosted Flakes' Classic Jingle Is Personal

Before the major record deal and Grammy nominations, J.I.D was a prominent athlete who loved Frosted Flakes.

The Atlanta native can vividly remember his mom putting him on to the sugar-coated cornflakes when he was a kid, and spilling a bowl of it on the floor of his family's car while driving to school. Like most millennials who grew up in the '90s, he also recalls the iconic jingle kids sang with the cereal's iconic mascot, Tony the Tiger, in the commercials. Two decades later, JID completely understood the assignment when he landed an opportunity to cook up his own version of Frosted Flakes' jingle, "Hey Tony."

"I'm like, 'oh, you guys want music? You want me to rap about— okay. Easy," J.I.D tells iHeartRadio. "It was super cool."

Frosted Flakes and J.I.D. debuted the new version of "Hey Tony" on Wednesday, February 18. The hitmaker and his producer, Christo, made it their personal mission to use the essence of the world-renowned theme song and create something the new generation will vibe to. On the track, J.I.D reflects on the moment when he first met his "day one homie" Tony, and how he played a role in his life. He also shares his childhood experiences that helped establish the foundation for his successful career. The motivational track is meant to inspire the kids to be great, but the rhythm and the familiar flow from the original jingle would make anyone feel nostalgic.

"Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes and Tony the Tiger have always stood for encouragement and belief,” said Laura Newman, Vice President of Brand Marketing at WK Kellogg Co. “Hip Hop is a culture built on that same energy, so teaming up with J.I.D. was a natural connection for us to bring back ‘Hey Tony’ in a way that honors helping to bring out your greatness for a new generation."

J.I.D's version of "Hey Tony" is just the beginning of his new partnership with Frosted Flakes. He appears on a new limited edition cereal box and stars in the new Frosted Flakes commercial. The ad, which is more like a music video, is also inspired by the early beginnings of J.I.D's love for hip-hop and how it shaped him into the artist he is today.

The video arrives along with the official song, which is available to stream on all music platforms. Fans will get to see J.I.D perform the song for the first time live in his hometown of Atlanta at the Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes “Day Ones” Bowl Game on Sunday, February 22. The football player-turned-rapper will experience a true full-circle moment when he performs the new song and other hits from his recent album God Does Like Ugly at an exclusive show before the championship game. All participants in the game will receive Frosted Flakes and J.I.D's new limited edition line of merch, including a jersey, a t-shirt, and a Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes "Day Ones" cereal box. The exclusive merch will also be available on JID's official website.

"It's going to be very impressive when it's done," J.I.D says about the song. "I think it'd be fresh, you know what I'm saying? It is really for the kids, but it's for everybody."

J.I.D's performance will go down just weeks before he's set to head overseas for the remainder of his "God Does Like World Tour." He'll start on March 2 in Helsinki, Finland, and will travel to other countries in Europe and the U.K. before he heads down under in Australia for his final show on May 23. As he prepares for his tour, J.I.D is also actively working on new music.

Scroll below to find out more about his new partnership with Frosted Flakes, his upcoming performance, and more.

iHR: First of all, congratulations on all your success. Between the tour, the album, the Grammy nomination, how do you feel about 2026 so far?

JID: I feel good. I'm inspired. It's been great. The Grammys were great, and the tour that I was getting off of before went amazingly and coming up to the one in a few weeks, I'm just inspired. I've been working on stuff and just trying different things out, but also waking up chopping wood, you feel me? Working on the music. Making sure the music is the number one, and that's why even working on this project with Frosted Flakes is super cool.

What made you want to reimagine the Frosted Flakes jingle?

It was fairly simple. I feel like hip-hop is the biggest genre to me. Well, it's my world. Hip-hop is my life. I wake up every day and I breathe it, and it has provided me beautiful opportunities like this one. Combining this world, 'cause I wouldn't say the initial jingle was hip-hop like this, but I wanted to make sure we go nostalgic. Drum and bass, like hip-hop beat, you feel me? To make sure you understand where this derived from and where it kind of struck the inspiration for me for real, It was simple, bro. Rather simple.

I heard the jingle. Was that beat provided to you and then you just rapped over it, or did you create it from scratch?

Me and my producer Christo put it together and it really didn't take long. Did you like it? What you think about it?

I love Frosted Flakes and I remember the jingle from back in the day, Just hearing you guys put your spin on it, I thought it was amazing. Everything from the drum pattern to your flow in general. It's definitely an updated sound. I thought the line about your mom introducing you to the cereal was really dope, and it resonated with me because that's how it was for me too. What were you thinking about while creating the actual lyrics for the jingle?

I'm just pulling from just life experiences. I was just thinking about like, oh, Saturday I got a football game. I grew up playing sports and stuff, so my Saturdays were active. I'm getting up early in the morning. It could be 6:00 AM and we super tired, but maybe I got a game or my sister got a cheerleading competition, or my brother got track, or my other brother got a football game, or maybe we're going to see my brother in prison or something. It was always up early for me. That was just my true existence. So I just remember maybe she didn't have time to cook, she got to gather all these kids. Okay, let's have a bowl of cereal. Maybe we don't sit at the table. Maybe we get a bowl of Tupperware and eat it in the car. I just remember like, oh, we in a van, eating cereal, car rocking. But it is super cool and nostalgic.

That's why I was like, 'oh, I got to do this.' I remember spilling a bowl of cereal, literally a bowl of Frost Flakes, right on the ground in the van, going to school one day. In my childlike memory, it probably was the most detrimental thing ever. But now thinking about it, I'm like, 'oh yeah, you're eating cereal in the car.' But little stuff that was just nostalgic things that brought me to like, 'okay, you can do this.' They came with this opportunity, and it's not even goofy. It's not like a fake thing. It's actually, it's something that everyone— breakfast, it's like the first thing you do, you wake up, you get something to eat. Depending on how you want to go about it, you can eat Frosted Flakes with eggs, bacon, fruit, whatever. We used to chop bananas up and put 'em in there, stuff like that.

It's dope that you personally connected with the cereal and brought that out in your music. Now this all correlates with your upcoming performance this weekend. What can fans expect from your set at Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes “Day Ones” Bowl Game?

Yeah. It's going to be fun. I feel like the whole event, everything that's being put together, is very intentional. So that's going to be the same energy that's going to be brought up to the stage. Just intention and enjoying the moment and stuff like that. I think all of this stuff serves a purpose. It brings different light to people's lives. Little events like this, and then me loving football and sports like that, it's scratching the itch from those days. Like I said, waking up, having football games and stuff like that, being a part of that is cool. So I'm excited.

I love how all of this relates to you in almost every way. I feel like it's great that it's coming up right before you go overseas for your tour. It's been six months since God Does Like Ugly dropped, but I feel like it's still hitting with your fans and it's still resonating with the culture in general. How do you feel about the album six months later?

I love it. Even me making it on a selfish tip, like, oh, I want this album to sound like this because this is the way I love it. That feels good when it's super personal, but it's well-received. It is different from stuff that I tried before, but also it's not as far as... I feel like I can even go further with the music, but this time around, I just had to make something more personal. It just came from a sincere place, just being how the title was created. So just a reception from it is great. And being nominated twice by a group of my peers of 15,000 people, that's not by chance. That's a blessing. That's something I don't take lightly. So I appreciate everything that came around the album and I'm just looking forward to the next steps and the next things. That's why this is so cool that it's rolling out right now.

All perfect timing. You're about to go on tour in Europe, but recently you said that you wanted to finish up your album before you go. What's the status on the project, and what can fans expect from it?

I'm just working, bro. Just daily. I'm chiseling away at the ice sculpture for real. That's the only way I'm looking at it. So I don't want to give any false hopes towards anything. I just know I'm working on music. Every single day, even as we speak, I'm thinking of certain ways to go about things in the future. We're working on stuff.