- Hello everybody, I'm Satori Shakoor.

Welcome to, "Detroit Performs: Live From Marygrove" where Detroit's talented artists take the stage and share insights into their creations.

Stay tuned for the electrifying energy right here on "Detroit Performs: Live From Marygrove" (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funding for "Detroit Performs," is provided by the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, Gregory Haynes and Richard Sonenklar, The Kresge Foundation, the A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Foundation, the Michigan Arts & Culture Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and by contributions to your PBS Station, from viewers like you, thank you.

(upbeat music) (upbeat synthesizer music) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music) (soft upbeat music) (upbeat synthesizer music) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (indistinct) ♪ It's your boy Drummer B ♪ 45 ♪ Detroit City ♪ 313 ♪ Ya know ♪ I dunno about you but ♪ Feeling good (upbeat music) ♪ I ain't worried about nothing ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ I'm good.

♪ What about you?

♪ Huh?

♪ It's all good ♪ We're gonna have a good time ♪ I just wanna dance ♪ You know?

♪ Get in my song ♪ Fo sho (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) ♪ I'm alright ♪ What about you?

(upbeat music) ♪ Just wanna let it all out ♪ Wanna dance ♪ Feel the vibe (upbeat music) ♪ Everything all right, you know?

♪ (upbeat music continues) ♪ Dance the night away ♪ Fo sho (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) ♪ All good vibes (upbeat music continues) ♪ Name my song ♪ Just let me do me ♪ You know what I'm saying?

(upbeat music continues) ♪ Fo sho (upbeat music continues) ♪ I just wanna dance (upbeat music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) ♪ Nectar ♪ Collector ♪ Nectar collector (upbeat synthesizer music continues) ♪ Nectar collector (upbeat synthesizer music continues) ♪ They call me busy D ♪ Because I stay on the move ♪ Yeah, I'm a worker bee ♪ I got a job to do ♪ Always on the vapor chase ♪ Ain't got no time to waste (upbeat synthesizer music continues) ♪ Nectar collector ♪ Nectar ♪ Nectar collector ♪ I'm all in, I need it ♪ I'm all in (upbeat synthesizer music continues) ♪ Nectar collector ♪ Nectar ♪ Nectar collector (upbeat synthesizer music continues) ♪ They call me busy bee ♪ 'Cause I stay on the move ♪ Yeah I'm a worker bee ♪ I keep a (indistinct) ♪ Always on a vapor chase ♪ Ain't got no time to waste (upbeat synthesizer music continues) ♪ Yeah I'm a nectar collector ♪ Nectar collector ♪ Nectar collector ♪ I'm on it, I need it, need it, need it, need it ♪ (upbeat synthesizer music continues) ♪ I'm on it (upbeat synthesizer music continues) ♪ Nectar collector (upbeat synthesizer music continues) ♪ I'm on it, I need it (upbeat synthesizer music continues) ♪ Nectar collector (upbeat synthesizer music continues) (upbeat synthesizer music continues) ♪ Nectar ♪ Collector ♪ Nectar collector ♪ Nectar ♪ I want it, I need it - We just came from the stage and witnessed that beautiful performance by Drummer B. Hi, Drummer B.

- Hello Satori, how you doing?

- I'm great.

It's a pleasure to meet you.

Tell us how you got started in music, what attracted you?

- What attracted me to music was just the influence of my family always having music playing in the background.

We stayed across the street from a record store when I stayed with my grandmother so she was always going to the record store to buy vinyls and stuff of that nature.

So music was always around and a big influence at home.

- And what kind of music did she buy?

What influenced you specifically in terms of the artists?

- She brought a lot of Parliament, she brought Al Green, she did some jazz.

Jean Luc-Ponty, Donald Berg.

- She bought the world.

- Yes, yes, she had a lot of different flavors of music she would play.

- What inspired your desire to read people and to give them something of yourself and your self-expression?

- I would say the desire came from just, I guess the love of music and just playing it and seeing how people react to it or being at home, how just playing good music just brought a good vibe at home and I felt like I would like to bring that to the world once I realized how people gravitated to it, I felt like this is something I wanna do for the rest of my life.

- And so what do you take as inspiration from the city of Detroit?

- Just the everyday things and everyday people from just the kids playing from going maybe to my grandmother's or one of my uncles, the old school feel to going out at night and being out downtown and getting the feeling of that, it all brings inspiration.

- So can you describe what you did for us today?

- Yes, so my setup is two drum machines, which are two Akai MPC Lives.

I'm a MPC man.

All of the people who are producers , they could understand the language and that's a big thing.

So two MPCs.

Then I also have a Tascam Model 12 as my mixer.

And I'm also using a Pioneer RMX 1000 as my effect sport.

And basically it's kind of like a hybrid DJ set instead of me using two CDJs, I'm just using both of my drum machines.

And with me doing it like this, I'm able to play all my original music and I'm able to play it differently every time I perform.

No performance, never be the same because it's live and I'm doing everything kind of imprompt, just off the feel or off the energy of the crowd.

That's kind of my unique way of getting my music across and kind of making it different.

With me being a drum machine, an MPC man, I'm able to really express myself and get my energy out when I'm on those paths and just getting it out like that.

- What did you perform for us today?

- The first one, "Time Travel" is a song off of my first vinyl release, "Bass Bounce".

That song is important.

That's one of my most popular songs that a lot of people know.

And it's funny, it's called "Time Travel" 'cause it just stands the test of time, is always one of the first ones to play.

The second one is off the a "A.O.A.

Project", which is my last release that I released myself.

- Okay.

- It is aquatic influence.

I did a live performance of the project at the Belle Isle Aquarium back in 2021 during the pandemic.

That one to this day has a big effect too, just because of the aquarium performance.

The third song is, "In My Zone", that's coming from a new project that I'm putting out off of my label, a compilation project.

I just inked the deal with Submerged.

So now I have distribution and this'll be the first project.

Thank you, the first project coming out under that with them.

And it features myself, Terrence Parker, and Eddie Fowlkes.

And the fourth song is "Nectar Collector".

That's another release I did last year and it was remixed by Marco Faraone and that's one of my biggest stream songs right now.

- Do you have a mission?

- My mission is, "Music is medicine," that's a saying I always say.

'Cause music is healing I feel like, and whether I'm playing to a small crowd or a crowd of thousands of people, it's still the same effect.

And that's my mission, it's to heal with the music and for people to leave away from my performance and be like, "Man, that was great."

That's my whole purpose.

- Thank you so much.

I so appreciated this interview with you.

- No problem, thank you.

- Come on back.

- Yes, I will.

- And thank you for watching "Detroit Performs: Live From Marygrove".

And we'll see you next time.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funding for "Detroit Performs," is provided by the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, Gregory Haynes and Richard Sonenklar, The Kresge Foundation, the A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Foundation, the Michigan Arts & Culture Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and by contributions to your PBS Station, from viewers like you, thank you.

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