DJ PBNJEFFY leans on community, affirmations to hone craft

For as long as Jeff Perkins can remember, he’s always been known as “the music guy.” 

Growing up in Kansas City, he was exposed to and inspired by a variety of genres. 

In 2020, Perkins took his love for all things music and channeled it into a new hobby: DJing. 

When he moved to St. Louis, he further developed his craft and style and discovered that music is indeed home — no matter where he put down roots. 

When I’m on stage, I describe it as a current running underneath my skin. Yeah, I’m activated. I’m activated. I’m ready to perform. It’s the energy I feel. 

Hey there. I’m Jeff Perkins. I’m 33 years old, from Kansas City, Missouri, born and raised, but I live in St Louis, Missouri, specifically the University City neighborhood. I’m a DJ known as “DJ PBNJEFFY.”

Music has always had a place in my life. I really can’t remember a time where music wasn’t present, like as soon as I probably became cognizant of music, it was always in my life.

I grew up with my mom and my grandmother. They both raised me. Um, so it was a family home. I have four aunts, they would all leave their records in my granny’s house. 

I grew up with … my mom playing Mary J Blige, Tony, Braxton, Tupac, you know Notorious B.I.G.

I would just, like, be constantly downstairs in the basement listening to music. I’d be dancing, you know, just in my own world. And for me, that was my space in home to just, like, explore what it meant to be creative, even as a very, you know, young person.

So I was always surrounded by the physical presence of music, but also to just the sound of music itself, too. 

The difference between Jeff Perkins and DJ PBNJEFFY is they are both the same person, two sides of the same coin. 

Jeff is the guy who loves music, you know, he loves to archive music. Loves to collect he has so many different interests. 

But when I am DJ PBNJEFFY on that stage, you know I’m coming to have a good time, and I’m gonna make you have a good time. 

… So it really is like an electric current that’s underneath my skin that I kind of envision flowing through my turntables out into the audience.

As someone who’s not from St Louis and not familiar with any of the DJs here, I have been pleasantly surprised by how embraced I have become here, and I’m so very grateful to it every single day.

There’s so many different factors that make St. Louis feel like home, but I would say the moment that it felt like home was when I got booked to do WerQfest in July of 2023, which is a Black LGBTQ Music and Arts Festival here. The first and only of its kind here in the Midwest. 

I do remember going into the WerQfest set and thinking about the history of the community, of Black LGBTQ folks. So I immediately thought of, well, I’m gonna play house. 

I wanted people to know, like, this music, this genre, has a rich history in our community, and this is something we have always danced to and just felt free.

As someone who really believes in the power of affirmation, something I always say to myself before every gig is that I’m a great DJ now, and in the making, and that for me is recognizing my greatness in the present, but also, too, recognizing how much more great I’m going to become.

I consider myself a big dreamer. 

I’m going to continue to go after those big opportunities that scare me, because I believe that what I see for myself and what I desire for my life are bigger stages.

Something that I am focused on in terms of what’s next is just continuing to just hone my craft, and continuing to just build a sense of community around me and and really just share, you know, all of this creativity with people, because it really is just something so special.

I can’t have a home without music.