Roland has announced that it will celebrate lo-fi beat culture and the Roland SP-404 sampler series with a total takeover of its SYNTH + AIRA Facebook channel.
On Friday, April 4th, 2021, Roland will stream extended sets from the #SPbeattape 2020 contest winners plus performances from a handpicked artist panel of lo-fi hip-hop icons, including Dibia$e, Sadiva, Miss Tahloulah May, and Next Dimensional. The beats jump off at 12pm PDT with 20 artist performances.
Celebrating #404DAY has become a tradition for Roland. On #404DAY 2020, Roland invited SP beat makers from around the world to participate in the #SPbeattape contest. By submitting their own tracks—made with any Roland SP sampler—SP beat makers competed to be one of sixteen featured artists on the first Roland SP Beat Tape.
In the early 2000’s, Los Angeles cultivated an underground hip-hop beat culture, where every budding producer was on the same wavelength, experimenting like mad scientists in laboratories, and producing their next instrumental masterpieces.
The Roland SP-404 sampler is synonymous with lo-fi hip-hop, known for its signature gritty, mood-setting, and mellow sounds. Used by the beat making community made up of everyone from hip-hop legends to Internet-age beatmakers and producers, Roland SP samplers have allowed a generation of artists to enjoy the creativity of producing the glitched effects, samples, and loops the genre has become known for all around the world.
Starting on April 4th, 2021, take an even deeper dive into the SP-404 and SP sampler culture and check out Roland’s #404DAY page for artist interviews with visionary illustrator Zom Kashwak and Dutch beat producer Miss Tahloulah May, insight into the history of the SP sampler, interviews with the development team behind the legendary sampler series, the LA Beat Scene Listening Guide, and a special tribute remembering lo-fi legend Ras G.
To watch the Roland #404DAY SP Takeover livestream on April 4, 2021, visit Facebook.com/RolandSynthandAIRA or access the Facebook Live event link directly to RSVP, here.
