Meet… Jesse Marco

Student by day, DJ by night.

21 year old Jesse Marco is making quite the name for himself. After interning with Allido Records (co-founded by Mark Ronson) and just recently being signed to DJ AM’s label – Marco knows what it takes to get a crowd jumping. By telling a story through his beats (beginning, middle and end), Marco has demonstrated his skills for the likes of Tom Ford in Milan for Men’s Fashion Week as well as spinning with Q-Tip for Spike Lee’s birthday. Marco filled us in on a typical day in the life of this 21 year old mastermind and his long term plans…..both personally and professionally.

(Jesse Marco, DJ and Producer-in-the-Making)

Take us through a typical day in the life of Jesse Marco….?
It’s really nothing out of ordinary. I enjoy a few cuts of a bacon and a sandwich in the morning, this is usually around 2 o’clock and then I try to avoid my bookers for as long as possible until they get me on the phone and tell me I have to shoot at 7 am the next morning for some shit or I have 3 gigs during the day tomorrow. I’ll try to go out for a run or something and possibly stop by A1 or Rock and Soul and contemplate if the ipod dj’s of the world consider vinyl somewhat of a dead artifact, like it never even existed, but then I remember there are these things called computers and who am I kidding, they’re awesome. Try to get some dinner in, meet up with some friends for a drink or two and then it’s off to work, wherever that may be.

You were recently signed to DJ AM’s label – how did that experience come about?
Umm, well a mutual friend introduced us, and everytime Adam came to the city I think the past couple of years I had been opening for him so he got to see me do my thing, and of course I thought I was shit, but there was one night where we sort of went back and forth at Butter sort of recently, and it was just a crazed atmosphere. Jay Z and Busta Rhymes in the cut and all that, and I guess I did pretty well. I’d say it probably has a lot to do with the New York dj circuit, it’s just real competitive and me being really young and doing the bigger gigs makes a statement.

What tactics do you have to get a crowd jumping?
I definitely put a lot of work into making what I do at work something you’ll never forget. It’s not just about going from one song to the next or just having good taste. It’s about weaving a story, it’s an arc, it has its beginning, and then all of a sudden it rises, and then it peaks and then vice versa. I just try to do little things here and there like mix in the sample of an old record, just so the heads that know will be like “thats dope”. Or I’ll do something where I’ll mix words of songs together with scratching and just play with loops and stuff and play with the energy of the room until it just pops. I think its really important to be so super clean; there’s nothing like hearing a record dropped or mixed right on the beat perfectly, and have it drop in right on the one. And to be really impulsive and spontaneous. I think what separates real New York dj’s from everyone else is that you can put us anywhere in the world and we can hold our own. You could put an unknown New York dj next to some guy from Brazil, or a guy from Sweden, or a guy from Chicago, or a guy from Florida, or someone from Paris….and we can hold it down.

Most memorable gig to date?
Spinning for Tom Ford in Milan for Men’s Fashion week, Lollapalooza onstage with Ronson, and spinning with Q-tip for Spike Lee’s Birthday at Gold Bar in New York.

You interned for Allido Records, which was co-founded by Mark Ronson. What skills did you learn there that have helped you get to where you are now?
Definitely learned a lot about the business end of things. Being so young it really helped me out when a lot of people thought they could take advantage of me. I learned how to sort of get past those obstacles and just stay working. I learned that Rich Kleinman is the king of fold a hoop basketball and Ronson has completely lost his touch from the three point line, and harley w. is the king of free throws. It was also really inspiring to be in the studio while Mark was working and I would just watch and stuff. Just being around it all was inspiring and helped me be creative.

You will be spinning at Art Basel at the end of the month and have been traveling around the world showcasing your skills. What can we expect down the road from Jesse?
More original production, loads more creativity with new mixes coming out, a new website, new representation, a few gigs with Kenneth Cole and more with Tom Ford as well as some showcases in Sweden, London, Norway, Paris at the end of November and a little bit of a West Coast/East coast combination tour at the end of December. Topman campaign also coming out, I play a very small role, not really a model kind of guy but I loved the photographer Collier Schorr so I was down.

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