Janette Oparebea Nelson (born 10 April 1971), known by her stage names MC Opi and Opi Nelson is a multi-instrumentalist, spoken word artist, music and documentary producer. '' The Monthly'', Australia's popular magazine of politics, society and culture, wrote Nelson "blazed a trail as a producer and guest artist...". She is most known for being the first female music artist to receive national recognition in Australia for a Hip Hop and

Dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

performance as a guest artist on the

Christine Anu Christine Anu (born 15 March 1970) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She gained popularity with the cover song release of the Warumpi Band's song " My Island Home". Anu has been nominated for 17 ARIA Awards. Early life Anu was bo ...

(ARIA award-winning Australian indigenous singer and songwriter) and Paul Kelly (a prolific ARIA Award-winning Australian folk singer and songwriter), 1994 ARIA nominated, single, " Last Train". Later she was both a writer and guest performer on Anu's award-winning 1995 ARIA Best Indigenous Release, ARIA Platinum Album and voted one of the 50 Best Debut Albums by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Double J Radio Station in September 2020 ''Stylin Up''. Nelson was a well known local Sydney live independent spoken word artist and producer before she met Christine Anu, whilst acting in a cast of eight, alongside Christine Anu and Barry Otto ( AFI Awarded Australian actor), in the 1993 musical theatrical production ''The Trials of Brother Jero'' written by Nigerian Nobel Prize playwright Wole Soyinka. Before " Last Train's" success in 1994, she was known for her work in Australian dance music TV and radio. She was one of the first music artists to be a reporter and assistant producer on the first Australian dance music show SBS TV's ' MC Tee Vee' and Alternative Arts Show '

The Noise ''the Noise'' was a monthly newspaper serving the cities of Flagstaff, Prescott, Sedona, Cottonwood, Jerome, Clarkdale, and Winslow in northern Arizona. Founded in 1993 by four high school seniors whose rural hometown's budget cuts lead to ...

' (produced by one of Australia's prolific TV producers, Annette Shun Wah). Her MC Tee Vee interviews included

The Beastie Boys ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Lucky Dube Lucky Philip Dube (pronounced ''duu-beh'';
luckydubemusic.com, Retrieved 19 October 2007 3 August 1964 – 18 October 20 ...

and others. At the age of 19 years, she co-produced, with Jaslyn Hall( Triple J and Womadelaide producer), the 1990 Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio documentary ' Women on the Rhyme' the first

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

radio documentary about Australian female hip hop artists. This documentary featured interviews with Charlene (Def Wish Cast), No.1 Jamaican & US female

artist Shelly Thunder, New Zealand Hip Hop Group

Moana and the Moahunters Moana Maree Maniapoto (born 22 June 1961) is a New Zealand singer, songwriter and documentary maker. Widely considered one of New Zealand's most successful indigenous acts, her music is described as a fusion of traditional Māori haka, chants a ...

and others.

Early life and family

Nelson was born in Chelsea, London, United Kingdom and her heritage is Irish, Australian Indigenous and Ghanaian. Nelson's niece is Ghanaian British 'MZ Porsche', a female Hip Hop artist who has achieved national recognition and like Nelson, she is a multi-instrumentalist.

Collaborations

Late 1993 Nelson was spotted by internationally acclaimed Australian indigenous artist, filmmaker and photographer Tracey Moffatt. Moffatt invited her to be an assistant director and have a cameo role alongside the late INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence in the notorious parody

INXS INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...

"The Messenger" video, a song on INXS's ''

Full Moon, Dirty Hearts ''Full Moon, Dirty Hearts'' is the ninth studio album by Australian rock band INXS. It was released on 1 November 1993, through East West Records in Australia and in the United Kingdom by Phonogram's Mercury Records label. It was followed by the ...

'' album. In the same year, Nelson also collaborated with David Thrussell ( SNOG, and Black Lung) an Australian musician and a prolific composer, Russell Kilbey (

The Crystal Set The Crystal Set were an Australian indie rock group formed in March 1983. By 1987 the line-up was Russell Kilbey (bass and lead vocals), Phillip Maher (guitar and vocals), Davey Ray Moor (keyboards and vocals) and Tim Seckhold (drums). In Apri ...

) and Dare Mason(a producer and composer who has worked with internationally notable bands The Church, Placebo and

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

) on the progressive house and industrial dance mini EP 'Get Lost' Sex Industrie, Polygram Australia. In 1994 following her guest performance on

's debut single " Last Train" the previous year, Nelson collaborated further on Anu's debut Album '' Stylin Up''.

2000 to Present

''2000'' produced her solo industrial dark wave project ''Jezebel Complex'' which Australian Broadcasting Corporation Producer Tim Ritchie played on the ABC National Radio show ' Sound Quality'.
''2008'' produced her solo project 'The Black Hole Lovers'.
''2009'' she studied the Masters of Digital Media at The College of Fine Arts, The University of New South Wales in Australia obtaining distinctions in the subject 'Sound Construction and Design.'
''2012 to 2013'' returned to London and continued to work on her independent solo music project 'The Black Hole Lovers' whilst working at The University of Cambridge and Oxford University.
''2014'' returned to one of her former occupations TV production, with her side project DotsWaves TV a web TV show which showcases Noise, Industrial Music and Digital Hybrid artists around the globe.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Opi, MC 1971 births Living people Australian hip hop musicians People from Chelsea, London