the mpc is THEE most overrated piece of hip hop gear on the planet. that wasnt true 5+ years ago but nowadays dollar for dollar, what it does, is nothing spectacular or unachievable by other means when you consider what they cost. if they had some built in sounds or a slot that dollar bills come out of then maybe you could justify their ridiculous cost.
im not saying mpcs are junk by any means, a good portion of hip hop producers use them, but nowadays, they just dont stand out like they used to. they are no longer special unless youre looking at an older "classic" model and definitely not worth the money compared to other machines that do vastly more.