Image via Complex Original
There's few things in the world as hip-hop as an MPC. First invented in 1988, the MPC—an acronym for Music Production Center—is designed to be like a hi-tech drum machine but it also gives users the ability to sample their own sound. Even hip-hop fans who aren't into really into production techniques know about the MPC, or are at least familiar with them thanks to things like Dr. Dre's Coors Light ad in the '90s or Kanye West's performance at the 2010 MTV VMAs.
Thanks to YouTube, more and more people are putting up videos of themselves playing MPCs. Some are well-known producers like Party Supplies while others are just kids with time on their hands. The king of playing the MPC as performance however, is certainly Araabmuzik who plays the MPC with furious precision. We dug around YouTube to find 10 Awesome Videos of People Playing MPCs. So relax and take notes.
Written by Erik Ross (@HellaDecent)
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Diana
Ten-year-old Diana shows off her MPC skills with under a week's experience. And she's a beast! Someone get this girl to produce Kendrick Lamar's next single!
AraabMuzik
Araabmuzik set up his MPC for an in-studio showcase for a demonstration on how he gets down on the drum machine. The self-proclaimed MVP of the MPC starts off with a sip of "energy juice" and eases into a smooth Dipset-sounding beat and transitions eleven times into different types of hip-hop beats, even touching on some rock samples. By the end of the performance, Araab hasn't broken a sweat and calmly walks away from the MPC.
Durazzo
Durazzo takes on two MPC 2500s for the live performance of his "Within Arms Reach" beat using Hugh Hopper and Alan Gowen's "Morning Order", which also was the sample used in Common's "Nag Champa". Durazzo controls the chopped samples with his right hand and his left hand plays the drums to pull everything together. The coordination needed to not only just play the beat, but to stay in time during a live performance makes you appreciate the music just a bit more.
Fresh Kils
Fresh Kils performs the set he used to win the Sound Battle Royale Championship in 2011 based on the classic gameshow The Price Is Right. The showmanship in this performance makes it more than just a beat entry for a contest. With a call-and-response type intro with Bob Barker, Kils ties in the perfect elements to earn that huge check he also shows off at the beginning.
Party Supplies
Fool's Gold's own Party Supplies crafted this routine back in 2011 inspired by dance music and you can tell he's having fun with the MPC1000 as he shows you it's not just for hip-hop. Even though this is a home video shot on an iPhone, PS still has a stage presence that's hypnotic to watch. Also, if you peep the very first two seconds of this video, you can see Party Supplies "prepare" himself for his set.
Objektiv
Datahowler, known as "Objektiv One" at the time, calls this one "Everywhere A Million" featuring his MPC 1000 and extremely coordinated hands. You're better off laying back and smoking a joint to this beat.
Egadz
Although he's actually playing an MPD and not an MPC, we're just have to give this one a pass. Shot in what looks like a dungeon, Egadz plays a whirling instrumental with way too much ease.
Memoreks
In this video he calls "Padmashing," Toronto's Memorecks handles two MPDs at the same time and performs a medley of his own boom-bap beats. Throughout the set, he fully arranges as he's playing and the beats transition into each other as if it were a live beat tape.
Exile
Wanting to bring live beatmaking, or "MPCism" as Exile calls it, he and DJ Day came up with the idea to create this routine using a D. Train sample used originally on Exile's Dirty Science album. Exile resamples D. Train and DJ Day builds onto that using sampled notes and bass from the same song.
Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu hops on her MPC during 2Pac's 40th birthday celebration, a live band joins her as she transitions into other beats and then proceeds to mimic her drum-machine playing with her mouth. She then inclues a brief interpolation of one of her own songs "Apple Tree", then hops back on the MPC to join the band