Detroit artist Terrence Parker is coming to town and his appearance on local turntables is set to school both disc jockeys and dancers and give the Halifax electronic music scene an invigorating kick in the butt.

On the Detroit party circuit in 1981, Terrence Parker got the itch to see local djs in action while out breakdancing. By 1982, he was djing regularly in the area and soon started recording his own music. Flash forward to 1993, the year "The Question" (a track Parker recorded as Seven Grand Housing Authority) crossed into the British pop charts, and suddenly he was flooded with European booking requests. "My first trip to England," Parker remembers over the phone from his Michigan home as he packs for another weekend jaunt to Germany, "was my first time djing outside of Detroit." Now 31, he's djing more than ever before.

Parker is booked solidly because he makes an effort to do things differently. And that's not easy with so many djs in the game. Parker will play 30 tracks in 60 minutes and make it flow--other waxworkers who try the same often come up with a sloppy trainwreck. The dj is also known for tricks that educate while they entertain. For example, he's mixed Armand Van Helden's "U Don't Know Me" with Carrie Lucas' "Dance With You" (the 1983 track Van Helden sampled for the recent hit). It's moves like this Parker is most fond of, ones which show where today's house music comes from.

In addition, Parker is so adept at manipulating double copies of certain records, partiers often mistake his live re-works of songs as new versions which they then try to track down, much to the chagrin of record stores. And live, Parker has no interest in just playing the latest house tunes. He's happy to drop early Madonna, Rolling Stones, practically anything with a funk-drenched beat into a set. You won't hear him play the same record the same way twice.

"Are you down with the music or are you just frontin'?" is Parker's motto. In a music industry rife with those willing to do almost anything to get one over, Parker grabs much press for his candid views on drugs in the music scene. Yes, he admits, drug use has always been intertwined with music and likely always will be. It's just that things have escalated, he says, and he's concerned that those who abuse drugs are affecting the scene as well as themselves. Parker has played at parties where robberies, car jackings and physical and sexual assaults have occurred, and this worries him. "Whatever you do with your body is your own business," he says, "but you're risking more than just whatever the chemical itself might do; you've also got to take into consideration how people might take advantage of you."

Parker challenges people to check out this Saturday's party sober. "I play whatever I think fits into the vibe of what I'm feeling at that moment. If people are using drugs when I'm playing out, how can they be sharing my vibe? I'd rather dj for five sober people who are getting high on the music when I'm playing than 500 people high on drugs."

Terrence Parker plays Halifax Saturday September 18.

Check out an earlier interview with Terrence Parker--plus new and classic music from TP and Seven Grand Housing Authority--on Andrew Duke's In The Mix show580.