Daily Inspiration: Meet Jay-P Gallo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay-P Gallo.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born in Miami on 1992 and raised in Bogota, Colombia by Colombian parents who got divorced when I was around three years old. As I grew up I kept finding black sheep status within my circles such as family, religion, school and friends. I failed two school years and got kicked out of my fist school (a catholic institution). Every place seemed like a bubble of oppression I really wanted to get out of. As I grew, I got acquainted with anarchist gang culture in Colombia which is very different than gang culture here in the US. After my first two schools, I landed in a school specially designed for “problem teenagers”. This is the best school in the world and there my world started opening quite a bit since I got to become part of broader social circles which is usually quite complicated in Colombia due to security, violence and the huge gap between social classes.

Growing up, I’ve been pointed at by family as someone misunderstood and dissociated living in my own world which led me to attend psychologists and psychiatrists from a very young age. But who can blame a child who perhaps was born in the wrong world? These were all very good people wanting the best for me… But perhaps their definition of good was deeply embedded in religion and what they learned from poorly dubbed film and tv… And that has just never been my thing. Perhaps good has never been a definition found in the media but rather something I find as I go. Good, evil, happiness, purpose, how to find it? Art and creativity have always seemed to be my answer to that. But who would want their son to be a hungry broke artist?

Back to the story: Dad wanted “the best” for me so he advised me to apply to schools in Australia, allegedly a beautiful country with no violence and a passion for human rights. So I didn’t. I took a plane to Panama and applied to Berklee College of Music. No one wanted me to go and waste my life in music and even though they liked my work I do appreciate them for wanting me to have a nine-to-five and invest my time in the wish of having a house where I would raise my family waiting patiently for a death kiss. Which I got way before I even had an opportunity my own house. You’ll know what I’m talking about later on…

Went to Berklee and parents sent basic resources for about a year (we barely talked anyways) and when resources stopped coming my way I dove deep into the food industry going through a wide array of food jobs. After being three times a doorman I became a busser, a runner, a barback, a bartender, a lobster cook, a pizza guy, a sommelier and a kitchen expo. This is when I met the love of my life who’s name I will not say and will refer to her as Mo from now on. She’s extraordinary in every way and as German as she’s beautiful. Money was good, food was too and drinks were even better. Waaay better. When applying to a restaurant job with a creative dream in the back-burner, the one thing they will never tell you is that the industry will slowly turn you into an alcoholic so you can spend your paychecks in other restaurants as you believe the bartenders in your sister restaurants genuinely like you hence they give you drinks for cheap.

Fast forward… Boston, Massachusetts March 18th, 2017.

I awake next to Mo in my Back Bay Garden level apartment between exposed brick wall highlights, get up have a simple breakfast and relax. Around midday, I get a headache and my mouth tastes like metal. Headache goes away, breath doesn’t. It must’ve been something I ate.

Next day: Wake up to an unstoppable urge to vomit, run to the bathroom and puke out what I later learned to be around 60% of my blood. I fall as I stumble my way to the room without energy to call for Mo until I faint hitting the corner of the wall with my head. Mo doesn’t flinch as she sleeps deeply. After who knows how long, I lift myself up with the weight of the thirty pianos that hang from my back and walk to the room as I hold on to the wall. Mo wakes up as I fall and tell her to call a cab. I get dressed with her help and walk up the main staircase to the first floor which feels like hiking the Himalayas barefoot and with no jacket on. As we get to the entrance of the building I stumble and fall again. I don’t recall closing my eyes or shutting my ears off… Then again I also don’t recall any events between then and my eyes opening after the doctors clipped my esophagus. Apparently, I had bled internally up to the point of losing 60% of my blood which is double the amount of blood an adult can lose before flat-lining. Do not ask me if I saw anything, no words can describe nothingness.

Shortly I told Mo “I’m not dying in Boston again”. So I got a server job in a fancy restaurant and mover with her to NYC. Here I got three jobs and I couldn’t keep up with our relationship so as soon as she moved back to Berlin, I quit all my jobs. I’ve lost my life before. And also the love of it. WHAT ELSE WAS THERE TO LOSE?

That was a fearless leap right there… Soon after I started earning money out of music. Now I am producer and engineer for pretty big names such as Zillakami, Denzel Curry, Russ and others and have had the opportunity of working with amazing human beings.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Let’s say it’s been super smooth, and it always is, the grass might seem greener in the horizon, but if you look down, the grass is as nice as the care you give to it. Human eyes can’t even see detail from that far anyways so looking at the horizon is a bit pointless, don’t you think? Looks nice tho. 🙂

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
-What sets me apart: Whatever others have found in me and seem to like. So it doesn’t really set me appart, if anything it makes me part-of.

-What I do for a living: Anything that my creative being has a thirst for in the moment, painting, art, music, production, videos, writing books, Producing, mixing and mastering records. Lots of label work, specially UMG.

Wouldn’t say I’m proud of anything in specific, it’s all been awesome.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.btstgroov.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/btstgroov/?hl=en

Image Credits
Matt Clements