Local entertainer Derek Cummings, professionally known as Big D, has partnered with the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance to help the homeless in the Commonwealth releasing a single for download. On June 9, the entertainer will release a single titled “Help The Homeless” for download on the iTunes store, all of the profits from which will be donated directly to the MHSA.

“Money, fame or success should not define you as a person,” said Cummings. “How much effort you put in today, and how you make others feel is what really matters. Listening to ‘Help the Homeless’ helps us realize that we are all the same, and it’s all about helping each other.”

Cummings writes and performs in English, Spanish, and Portuguese with equal facility. He has blended them into a new style of music that defies most regular descriptions not rap, rock, pop, or world, but actually a rich mix all of them rolled into a fresh new sound he calls, The Boston Beat. Big D feels it’s more inclusive and representative of the people in New England, most specifically the Boston area.

After working in the industry for many years, he kept running into industry people who kept telling him what he “had to be” in order to be a success. In response to what he perceived to be stereotyping in the music industry and many people telling him he had to sound just like others to get public attention, Big D has chosen instead to buck the trends and open Boston’s newest record label, BTF Entertainment LLC, a company whose primary objectives are to show the world the richness and depth of the entertainment arts here in New England and also to promote that local talent wherever it can and to try and show people that no matter what race, religion, sex, or age you are, “we all have music in our hearts”.