For a city that outsiders wrongly assume someone gets killed in every .07 seconds Detroit is probably the friendliest urban metropolis on the face of the earth. Everyone smiles at you as Soul exudes from their faces and everyone bounces to the beat. Here are some of the folks I met and spent time with during my April. 2013 trip back home, all of whom will be participating in “The D” when I come back to do a citywide month-long sing-along to create a new theme song for the new Detroit in September, the month I help popularized in song.

Some of the great people I met on this trip. For other great Detroiters I met this year, click here.