We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jamie Ross. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jamie below.

Hi Jamie, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

Love is not handed to us in a perfectly packaged box, neat, tidy, kind, and beautiful. No, Love is a humble, ever-changing, lesson-learning time machine. Through age, we’re able to grasp the concept of love. What it means to us. What it feels like. How we grow it, receive it, and give it. When I was little I never knew that what my parents were doing my whole life, was curating my concept of unconditional love. You see, my parents have been together since they were 15 years old. 54 years later, they remain the essence of passionate love, kind love, disciplined love, and unconditional.
This ever-evolving concept of love between soul mates, family, community, and humanities is unparalleled to the affinity I feel for love itself. My parents taught me to love myself, to love our community, to be that love that humanity needs, and to love like my life depends on it. They taught me we are all connected.
My father started our local Boys and Girls Club. He hosted community events and dressed up as Santa for the Foster homes and Hospitals. They say a father is a girl’s first love. My father was also my first hero. He taught me how to love my community. Be a servant of the land and people.
My mother was a graceful Goddess fingers interwoven into the earth. She planted love with each dinner she made from our very own garden. Four brothers and I the only girl, my mother built men with compassion and strength, showed me dignity and the definition of a Queendom. My mama’s for sure a Queen.
All in all, I can say that I learned to live in love, walk in love, and sing with love, and in doing that I can be anything I want to be and go anywhere I want to go.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

What up? I am J. Ross Parrelli, fellow emcee, Hip Hop Educator, Board of Education Trustee, Founder of Beats Lyrics Leaders, member of BAE (Benefits, Access, and Equity), community organizer, and lover of life.

Emcee- My favorite everyday task is when I turn on beats and freestyle. I was blessed to work with legends, sing alongside my inspirations, and tour the world. My favorite past life was living in Long Beach and moving to New York in 2012-2016. I signed to Universal Music Group worked with folks like Raekwon the Chef, KRS-One, Pharcyde, Jurassic 5, and was even trained by the number one freestyle champ MC Supernatural. I have a passion for MC battles and love rocking mics, especially with Jazz Standards and Classic Hip Hop beats, leading me to tour all over the world. I now have a studio and host freestyle cyphers called “Blue Door Studios Presents”, a podcast Hip Hop and Education, and make music everyday.

Hip Hop Education- I love Hip Hop and I love education. I think knowing is the greatest tool and understanding is the greatest power. Combining Arts and Education is my Superpower. My goal is to train artists to get in the classroom as well as integrate arts into the Common Core Curriculum. I recently got my Masters in Education Leadership, and have been serving the AUSD Board of Education for the past three years. I love working with teachers, Artists, and Administration facilitating Human Design workshops to create positive culture and growth mindsets amongst schools.

Beats Lyrics Leaders- teaches the art of confidence using Hip Hop Education and Performance Arts. We have been working with Tribal Reservations, Juvenile Delinquency Facilities, Public Schools, Community Centers and so much more to bring workshops on beat making, song and lyric writing, audio recording, directing music videos, and performing. We host 5-day youth conferences, workshops for students and educators, assemblies, and performances/speaking engagements. Slim Kid Tre (member of the classic Pharcyde) has been a mentor with BLL. As well as, Akil the MC (J5), MC Supernatural, MC RadioActive (Spearhead), Tony Ozier (DooDoo Funk), 2_8_tha_Native, and so many more.

Access, Resources, and opportunities are the definition of equity, and if I could sum up my love for my community I would say that equity is my mission. There is no equity in nature, so where school is the great equalizer we must facilitate education with an equitable lens. Therefore, everything I do, teach, practice, and live by is in the name of equity. I love being in the know, being involved, and organizing movements.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Lately, I have been noveling on the idea of Creative Economy and how we can impact our cities and communities with this concept. Understandung the concept of Creative Economy comes wtih understanding intersectionality. It looks like Arts, Culture, Design, and Innovation. I love the idea of converging the preservation of history with arts and technology. History is so valuable, especially that attuned to marginalized or underheard voices. We need Artists, and the arts, knowing that art is the gift of humanity. And, bridging technology, the consistent innovation and possibilities associated with our futures, and the adaption to time and space. We see this in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and the metaverse, as we can alter concerts through our Virtual Reality goggles.
I have been looking for ways to collaborate on these concepts with local agencies like our Arts Commissions, Historical Socity, City leaders, and business owners to see how we can build upon this idea of Creative Economy.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Budgeting money, building financial capacity, how to turn art into royalties. I think the hardest part of being a Creative is that we also have to create ways to get paid, as well as find value in our art. How does a creative place value on their art and art potential? If you ask too high the person next to you will commit at a lower price. Sometimes as an artist, I undervalue my potential and get paid minimal to nothing because I love what I do. Knowing how to place value on your art and creation when you just love doing it, was the hardest concept for me to bear.

What I’ve learned is as an artist we place value in things outside of money. Social Currency, Cultural Currency. Investing in your community is priceless and that reflection of support pays off in other ways. I’ve realized that I am a Creative culture cultivator. Tell me how you get paid to curate culture. It’s far from your average 9-5 job.
Somedays, I’ve gone to bed hungry, somedays it meant I was sleeping on a couch or sharing a meal with a friend, Sometimes it means I’m buying the whole bar drinks. The art of balancing money and finances is the hardest part of thinking with the creative side of our brain. I learned to delegate and stay in my creative lane, This is where the partnership is super valuable. Think of Steve Jobs and Wozniak, they both had a purpose in the success of Apple.
I wish earlier I would’ve understood the value of partnership.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.beatslyricsleaders.com
• Instagram: @jrossparrelli
• Facebook: @jrossparrelli
• Linkedin: J Ross Parrelli
• Youtube: @jrossparrelli