Skip to content
News

Hip-Hop Reissue Experts Rep for TR-909 Drum Machine With Record Store Day Exclusive

get on down, tr-909, record store day

Here’s another gem to add to the massive list of Record Store Day 2013 releases: a dual 7-inch flexi disc set that pays tribute to the Roland TR-909 drum machine.

On April 20, the reissue experts at Get On Down — the folks behind last year’s gorgeous Illmatic box sets — will drop a package that reportedly features a 20-page booklet; the sounds of the 1980s rhythm-maker; narration and insight from Philadelphia rap icon Schoolly D (“one of the machine’s early masters in the mid-’80s,” as Get On Down puts it); and instrumental remakes of the drum tracks on two cuts from Schoolly D’s self-titled 1986 debut.

Those alternate takes were programmed by Get On Down co-founder Joe Mansfield, who is putting out a book about the TR-909 this summer. The hip-hop historians are pegging the RSD flexi discs as a prelude to Mansfield’s upcoming book, titled Beat Box: A Drum Machine Obsession. Get On Down will publish the release, which includes an interview with Schoolly D.

As SPIN previously reported, other forthcoming Record Store Day exclusives from Get On Down include GZA’s Liquid Swords Chess Box vinyl set and Non-Phixion’s “I Shot Reagan” 7-inch vinyl.