All Hail the Beat' celebrates a rhythm machine deemed obsolete in 1984 but still influential until to this day. The Roland TR-808 existed from 1980 to 1984. In that brief time span it was embraced by hip hop and helped inspire the creation of new dance music genres (electro boogie, techno) as we hear in testimony from innovators D-Nice, formerly of Boogie Down Productions, Arthur Baker, producer of the classic... see more