Indeed, with radio stations frequently consolidated by major conglomerates, corporate honchos - not music fans - are increasingly deciding where the market is, where the money should be spent... and who should get played on the radio. "When Boston's Star 93.7FM went away, it was the beginning of the end," Lucas agrees, commiserating with me over the loss of my beloved hometown favorite. "One by one. Then came Miami, the biggest dance city around! Another radio station went away, went corporate. These advertisers come in with millions of dollars in car commercials and liquor commercials, and they want to go where the mass is."

And so goes the industry's circuitous logic: Ratings dictate support, which determine ratings, which dictate support. Dance fans, it seems, are rarely able to find a successful, radio-friendly performer of their own.

But like the superhero he portrays on the cover of his debut album, Lucas Prata is here to save the day. "People know who Lucas Prata is!" he says, seemingly in awe of his own good fortune. Indeed, for the first time in recent memory, a current dance artist is being mentioned in the same breath as industry leaders: "I was watching MTV the other night," he says. "And they mentioned G Unit, Kanye West, Ciara, Rihanna... and Lucas Prata," he pauses. "Those are the names I want to be mixed in with."

His recent success is pretty impressive, after all. Besides the crossover appeal of "And She Said," a song that hit #1 on one of the nation's biggest radio stations (New York's Z100), an accompanying music video, and a guest spot on MTV's "My Sweet 16," that ratcheted his cool quotient tenfold, he also released "Love of My Life," a duet with Reina. It became another dance radio hit. Next up is the single "We Got it Going On," an effort to capitalize on his newfound mainstream success.

"It's a song I wrote about the dance community," he explains. "You know in hip-hop, they write about what they do, how they hang, and the people they hang with. Well, this is about the whole vibe of what people who love dance music do: the community in the clubs that loves to go to the VIP rooms, order their bottles of Grey Goose and Red Bull and go out dancing on the bar. The DJ in the booth... that whole vibe."

There's little doubt that the dance community will appreciate Lucas' tribute. After all, it's been a long time since an artist - especially a male artist - has shown this much promise in achieving crossover success and bringing dance music back to the forefront of the music scene. Even recent popular artists, like DJ Sammy, DHT and Cascada, all originated overseas. "It's rare that there's an American-based dance leaning artist that gets to cross over," Lucas admits. "As long as you develop an artist, and take the time to really nurture an artist and create a phenomenon... that's the way to do it!"

And when victory comes, it sure tastes sweet. "There's nothing better than receiving emails that say, 'I've never been into dance... but I just love your music. It's uplifting, it's positive, and it's feel-good dance music.'" He goes on, "That's the key to what I do. I like to make music that people want to drive to in their car and crank it loud as they can and sing along. I did that this year and I hope I can keep it doing it."

So do we, Lucas. So do we.