School in Chicago, Deru (Benjamin Wynn) had his friends wearing out underground hip-hop mix tapes. The second tape had Slug of Atmosphere rhyming with a "borrowed" microphone bought just for the session and returned after... Those tapes, by the way, are still being played. Since then, Deru has found himself studying music in California (where he now resides) and writing music for TV and even dance. One of his recent projects was a collaboration with a classical composer for the Paris Opera Ballet. This piece was a far cry from hip-hop yet this is his music; a synergy of influences. What this means, in short of course, is that Deru can get both the thinkers and the drinkers on the floor dancing, all in perfect synergy.