Marcellus Pittman is a headliner like no other. A name synonymous with Detroit House, but ever evolving in his selections and approach to mixing: fusing rich soul and eclectic mixes with thoughtfully selected vinyl and digital tracks. With a repertoire so versatile It’s no wonder he’s stayed at the forefront of dance music since the early 90’s. 

Ahead of their show on Thursday night at Club 77, resident and Eora rising star Mazzacles sat down with her favourite DJ Marcellus Pittman for an intimate chat on all things digging, DJing and his influential career - spanning from Detroit and well beyond. 

I wanted to start by asking you about early days. You started in the 90s?

Yes, I started in 1992. Before I actually got turntables, I would just buy records. There was this local record shop near my house called Sound Dimensions. They had pretty much everything, you know, House, Detroit Tech, Hip-Hop. While I was doing that, my cousin and mom helped me get my first paid turntables - Gemini BD-10 belt-driven. They were shitty, but they did the job.

Everybody else was looking at cartoons. You know, at that point, there wasn't too much good stuff on the radio. There was good stuff, but not much. They used to do a live broadcast from the clubs back in the early 90s. Like, you could hear the background noise and everything.

When I spoke to Jeff Mills earlier this year, which was the scariest thing I've ever done…

That's funny because I met him last year and I was shaking. Like, yeah, I was nervous as fuck trying to meet him.

… one thing I asked him about was — and I'm asking you the same — dance floor etiquette and what's different. What’s changed being on the floor as a dancer, not just as a DJ?

First off, I hate to say this, but the drugs changed. And the people's drug of choice makes them look and act like zombies. Not too much movement, and a lot of staring. You know, just leave the drugs alone. Let the music be the drug. 

Back then, we also didn't stare at the DJ. We were staring at the speaker because we were dancing towards the speaker. We knew who the DJ was. The only time we stare is when you play that good song, like, woo, yeah, all right. 

The phones are getting kind of crazy, you know? Like, I don't want to take a picture with you while I'm DJing. Like, come on, man. I'm like in the middle of a mix. When you see a DJ with his head tilted to the side with his headphones, that means do not disturb.

I have a question that was kind of inspired by some of the recent posts about the street in Detroit that's named after Dilla…

Dilla Street in Conant Gardens.

… when you guys were younger and were doing all the stuff that is now so far-reaching and influential, did you know when you were doing it was going to be like something really special?

Oh yeah man of course. We partied at this place called St Andrews and the night was called Three Floors of Fun: three floors with different musical genres. 

The top floor was Billy Bob and Mike Huckaby - rest in peace. The main floor was DJ House Shoes and other guest DJs. The bottom floor was called the Shelter and they played alternative - you know like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. It was the cross-pollination of all styles. This is like 94-95, we all were partying at the same building you know what I mean. Saturdays we hit the hip-hop shop - Maurice Malone's hip-hop shop and they would have freestyle battles there you know - rap battles. 

And yeah we used to catch Eminem and Slum Village. All of us was out there you know.  Eminem got his deal that same time Slum Village was doing their thing, and fast forward 25-30 years later; you look at Detroit now there's a whole bunch of popular nationwide known rappers. 

A lot of people say Motown is dead. No Motown ain't dead - it never left, we was just quiet for a minute.

What advice do you have for anyone that's coming up in 2025 doing club stuff or doing music, you know just trying to do their thing. What do you have to say?

Be patient. Hold on to the process. Let it come naturally. Just because you had one good gig and one of your idols came up and said “man you are awesome” or whatever - don't think that you the man or the woman all of a sudden. Or think you deserve ten thousand dollars a gig. Just don't rush the process, be patient.

I'm super excited to play with you. It's gonna be really special for me.

The last time I played Club 77 it was, man that was super dope.