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Recommended by: DJ Ambush, operations and content manager for the Numberz FM
“DJ MPC embodies everything that keeps me excited about still DJing after almost three decades. And from the opposite side of the turntables as a spectator, her song choices are a constant reminder of how well she manages to stay tapped into her audience—playing the songs you wanted to hear and introducing you to the remixes you didn’t know you needed to hear.”
Also check out: King EDO, Trisstan
To tech heads, “MPC” stands for microprocessing controller. For Jeannetta Jackson, who performs as DJ MPC and is a tech head herself, it also has a personal meaning that couldn’t be further from its technological definition.
“My ‘MPC’ stands for ‘Mary Poppin’ Cherries,’” says Jackson, whose friends gave her the nickname several years ago. “I wanted to take that name and brand and keep it with me, because I like to leave people with the idea that you’re going to get some sounds you’re familiar with, but I’m also going to bless your ears with something you’ve probably never heard but you’ll really like.”
Jackson has only been officially slicing and splicing songs together for a couple of years. But due to her day job as a semiconductor engineer, she has plenty of experience taking things apart and putting them back together in new ways.
It was Jackson’s job that brought her to Portland three years ago.
“Oregon is one of those things that’s not talked about often coming from the East, so there was a mystery to it,” Jackson says. “I think moving around influences my sound because I get to get bits and pieces of every place that I go, and that’s actually incorporated into my sound.”
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., she’s influenced by the “East Coast flair” of Go-Go, the percussion-heavy blend of funk, jazz and hip-hop that’s basically the District’s official sound. Portland has inspired her to mix in a bit of indie pop and rock, though.
The cut-up that started it all was an R&B mix of Janet Jackson’s “Velvet Rope” with “One Is the Magic #” by Jill Scott.
“The first time was like sex,” says Jackson, “and I haven’t looked back since.”
Lately, she’s been digging a lot on newer artists like Jazmine Sullivan, Masego, SZA and Tierra Whack. That’s part of why she’s such a fan of DJing in the digital age—the wide range of what and who you’re able to access.
“There really are some DJs that are ‘controller versus vinyl,’ but for me, as a DJ, I’m all about the sound. I don’t care about your equipment,” says Jackson. “There’s nothing as pure as that vinyl sound—don’t get me wrong—but when it comes to music, curating and giving people a sound, I love the fact that with the digital world, you can reach as many audiences as possible.”
Still, no matter what she’s able to access with the internet, she’s still big on local inspiration, citing DJ ALoSo and Blossom artists she’d want to collaborate with next.
“I always like to share, collaborate and be inspired,” she says. “This city is melting with a whole bunch of artists and really good people. You can always hit them up.”
See More of the 10 Local Artists Portland Music Experts Say You’ve Got to Hear in 2021.