I think May is highly overrated in techno history. i love juan and (some) Derrick May tracks but as a whole he's been great at blowing his trumpet. Great dj but there's a lot of rumours of him being a ladies man (in an ominous and nasty, not suave way)
a lot of his projects have others on co-production credits yet he's always gone off on one about how he got sick of the music industry. I mean if you were really sick of the industry you wouldn't be jetsetting djing internationally, rather locked up in your studio, let's be real.
And of course rich black people have it harder to rich white people on average/generalisations being generalisations etc, but it's hardly (based on his interviews) like he was going to ever be begging for money if he spent a couple of years getting familiar with the developments in tech, but then, maybe his interview was bollocks given how he comes across in old music mag issues and on RBMA. The signs were there for everyone to see.
As a whole chicago, kalamizoo etc etc have been more appreciative of the UK audience, whereas a very small minority of the Belleville lot have sometimes been under the impression that we'll eat up any old shit in the UK. Which, amongst a certain breed of guilty middle aged white detroit techno fan is absolutely the case, so they are not wrong in that regard.