Jools TV: Black Chicago family creates animated YouTube videos for kids

CHICAGO (WLS) -- During Black History Month, we often think about legacy. That certainly is the case with this Chicago family: parents who want to provide positive cultural influences for their young sons. And they've come up with a unique way to share important life lessons.

This is Jools TV, featuring the animated adventures of the "J" brothers: J.J., Jaxon, Jett and Jhy. It was created after their real-life parents noticed what the boys were watching on YouTube.

"One day I told Justin, I'm like, 'Hey, we don't see a lot of kids that look like our children or look like us,'" said Patrice Brim.

"So we decided to create a channel that kind of solved that problem and gave us a voice and gave our kids a voice they could identify with," Justin Brim said.

And Jools TV was born. J-O-O-L for the "J's of our lives." It's produced from their Chicago home with 5-year-old Jaxon supplying all the voices. The three-minute episodes teach all kinds of life lessons, often guided by a guardian angel J.J. He's based on their oldest son, who has passed away.

"So that he would be memorialized and that his younger brothers would be able to know who he is," his mother said. "And also, we, at the last minute, decided to animate ourselves. We thought it was important that we include ourselves because we also want to show there's such a thing as a Black family: a Black mother, a Black father with their Black children and it's ok. It's our everyday life and it's normal."

Each episode includes a main story and the popular music videos.

JUSTIN BRIM: The music is what's really catching on. We're Black people and we love music. Certain frequencies that we just can't understand. It gets our toes tapping, so...

HOSEA SANDERS: It's part of our history, right?

JUSTIN BRIM: It's part of our history and it's great!

They hope to create more and more episodes and then expand to other platforms, keeping it all in the family.

JUSTIN BRIM: Everything's at home, home studio with the kids. They have fun with it. We do as well.

HOSEA SANDERS: Man, does it get a little crazy?

JUSTIN BRIM: Yes! Our house is always crazy. The recording process is no different! It does get crazy, but in a good way.

Neither Justin nor Patrice had any background in animation when they launched JOOLS-TV last October. he works with at-risk youth and she has a background in journalism, SO they reached out to local artists to bring the stories to life. Many of the ideas come from the imaginations of their boys themselves.

You can check out Jools TV on YouTube and Facebook, and follow them @joolstv_ on Instagram and @joolstv_ on TikTok.