Derrick May (born April 6, 1963), also known as Mayday and Rhythim Is Rhythim, is an American electronic musician from Belleville, Michigan, United States. May is credited with pioneering techno music in the 1980s along with collaborators Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, commonly known as The Belleville Three. According to Sal Cinquemani of American Songwriter, May is "one of the most influential of Detroit’s wiz kids."

May is an only child born to a single mother in Detroit. May began to explore electronic music early in his life. At age 13, Derrick May began attending Belleville High School, and became friends with Juan Atkins in 1981. After an altercation, May became friends with Saunderson. Atkins taught May and Kevin Saunderson the essence of DJing as well, formed a trio, Deep Space Soundworks, collectively existing to present their favorite music at parties and clubs. In an interview with a French magazine, May explained that people used to laugh at the ideas that they were entertained by Kraftwerk and disco sounds, we did our thing and continued to believe in ourselves, regardless. During high school, Saunderson and Belleville High School classmate Juan Atkins were fans of DJ Charles "The Electrifying Mojo" Johnson.

When their careers took off, the three young men opened their three individual record labels, Metroplex belonging to Juan Atkins, KMS and Inner City for Kevin Saunderson and Transmat/Fragil all on Gratiot Ave, in Detroit's Eastern Market, this was known as Techno Alley.

When Derrick May was a teenager, he worked part-time in a video arcade.

May's production career started in 1987 with the release of a record called "Nude Photo" (written by Thomas Barnett), which helped kickstart the Detroit techno music scene. A year later, he followed this release with what was to become one of techno's classic anthems, the seminal track "Strings of Life", which was named by Frankie Knuckles. It "hit Britain in an especially big way during the country's 1987–1988 house explosion." May's best known track, according to Frankie Knuckles, "just exploded. It was like something you can't imagine, the kind of power and energy people got off that record when it was first heard. Mike Dunn says he has no idea how people can accept a record that doesn't have a bassline." The song was featured in video game Midnight Club: Street Racing.

Opened in 1988, The Music Institute in Detroit was where they held their residency. May describes the place as a spiritual place for music. "We had a young beautiful black crowd and I mean beautiful in the sense of spirit mind and soul. We had white kids coming, Spanish kids coming, gay kids coming, straight kids coming."

Derrick was a mentor to many great artists. Among them, Carl Craig and Stacey Pullen have cited the difference between May's two labels as Transmat being fully devoted to original creation, whereas Fragile is where an artist can utilize more sampling, for a little creative push. May also ran a side-gig collective known as KAOS, a separate and lesser-known endeavor from Deep Space. May's Transmat Records label was the home of his best material, cuts like "Nude Photo," "Strings of Life," "Kaos" and "It Is What It Is," most produced from 1987 to 1989 as Rhythim Is Rhythim. And though his release schedule all but halted during the 1990s, he continued DJing around the world and helping other artist to release their music honed Transmat into one of the most respected techno labels in the world.

In Surreal Underground Entertainment 1993 America, Carl Craig said he "doesn't want Americans to look back at the music and think of it as a down point in history. The majority of American artists sent their musical efforts to Europe because it is more accepted by a wider audience."