A musician descendant of George Clinton, Manuel Gottsching, Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, Derrick May took the hard math of the Europeans and merged it with the future funk of Black America to create these timeless classics: 'Strings of Life,' It Is What It Is,' 'Drama,' 'The Beginning.' May crafted symphonies for the 23rd century, a virtual soundtrack for some intergalactic carnival. The dancefloor of his mind crossed every boundary--race, class, intellectual, sexual--the ideas that emanated from these early compositions did more than just change how a generations of heads listened to music, it changed the way they lived. It has even been said that without 'Strings of Life,' the 1988 uprising of British youth known as "The Summer of Love" may never have happened.

May and his contemporaries--Juan Atkins, Mike Banks, Carl Craig, Eddie Fowlkes, Kenny Larkin, Jeff Mills, Kevin Saunderson--all exist on that hallowed continuum of pioneering Black artists: James Baldwin, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jordan, KRS-1, Prince. . . artists that have set their own standard, and repeatedly challenged themselves to create new ones. And while his now decade-old concepts continue to inspire countless imitators the world over, no one has yet to craft such an indelible blueprint. The sensual wash of synthesized strings, the tribal syncopation of his intricate hi-hat patterns, the impossibly complex sense of melody within the rhythm--these aesthetics have turned "Detroit" into an adjective, used not only to describe genuine Techno, but the facsimiles as well.

Single-handedly creating the prototype of "Superstar DJ" long before such a term even existed, it was (and is) May that works as Detroit's global ambassador, enrapturing audiences worldwide with his legendary DJ sets. Echoes of Ken Collier, Ron Hardy, Larry Levan and the Electrifyin' Mojo reverberate through sound systems from Chicago to Brussels to Johannesburg when he takes to the decks.

This is the sound that galvanized a worldwide generation of minds, minds that listened and learned the secret of Techno: How to create your own future.