In this extensive interview by YouTuber Shane Flemming from roughly 2019, DJ Rod talks about the early days of Memphis production. At the roughly 4:40 mark he mentions DJ Pinky's use of the DR-660:

It was me, KE, and DJ Pinky... we were like the main spearheads of production over at [Fela's] house. It was either I'm doin' the beats, KE was doin' the beats or Pinky was doing the beats... AND Fela. All four of us were the ones that used that Roland 660 [...] when we'd use that thing we'd take turns making beats...

Note: There is no "Roland" 660, but Boss is just a subsidiary of Roland, so calling the Boss 660 the "Roland" 660 isn't exactly incorrect.

DJ Pinky is also listed as a Boss DR-660 user in the excellent 90s Memphis Rap Production Guide from Loaded Samples.

Also also: Enjoy this very NSFW early 90s DJ Pinky track that may or may not feature some 660 sounds.

Also also also: I have no idea who the artist "KE" is (or "Keith One/Warren"?) that they keep mentioning in the interview, if anyone has any ideas on that one, go ahead and @me right there in the posting comments.

In this screenshot of an Instagram post from 2025, Sam provides a short video demonstration of his DR-660, letting the little plastic gem do it's thing with hard, crunchy Roland PCM '89 sounds and long, murky reverb tails.

In this 2015 interview for the Memphis Flyer, DJ Squeeky reveals the tools of his trade throughout the years:

Q: What are some of the machines that you use to produce?

A: I’ve used the SP-1200 [drum machine]. I had a Boss Dr-660. I had an old Roland keyboard before Mini came out. My music back then was more like a sample thing. I was sampling things that I heard and was putting beats to it. I’m still using the drum machine to make beats. The MPC-3000. I’ve been dealing with Fruity Loops too.

Also, for the historians out there, this Pitchfork review from 2025 mentions the following:

It’s hard to accurately pinpoint the sound’s progenitors, but among longtime fans and the scene’s living elder statesmen, there’s a loose consensus that its initial innovators were DJ Squeeky and DJ Zirk. Kingpin Skinny Pimp, one of the period’s heavyweight MCs, specifically credits Squeeky for originating the ratcheting trap cymbals found in all manner of hip-hop production today. Both DJs traded in swampy murk, programming on rudimentary drum machines like the Boss DR-660 or DR-5. But Squeeky’s work emphasized melody while Zirk’s was darker, more textural.

In this late 2025 interview posted by Al Kapone, Shawty Pimp recalls making his first recordings at DLE's house, where he had the coveted Boss DR-660:

So we used to go to DLE's house, man. And, uh, [ __ ] he had that damn that Bos 660 over there, man. And [ __ ] I just I had to have it, man.

In this interview with Icon Academy, courtesy of YouTube, Malik Jahmil Shannon, aka Shawty Pimp, details how the DR-660 came into his life.

At 20:07, Shawty relays a story about how Tommy Wright III took him to DLE's studio, where he saw the Boss DR-660 for the first time and decided he needed to get one for himself.

Shawty Pimp & MC Spade's 1993 "Solo Tape" uses the Boss DR-660 exclusively for every beat, no other synths, samplers or drum machines were employed, just this one little machine, a 4 track recorder and a microphone.

(yes there is some vinyl playing in the background for the intro shout outs, but once the tape gets started it's all DR-660 from then onward)

Update: I also uncovered a wonderful 2025 6-part series Torii MacAdams wrote for Medium. Part 2 is the best interview with Shawty Pimp I've ever come across:

When his peers were hammering out sparse, Stygian beats, Malik was sourcing lush soul and funk samples from his father’s vinyl collection. Others were pretending to be conversant with Satan and his sulfurous machinations; Malik was functionally conversant with the laid back instrumentation of artists like Roy Ayers and the Isley Brothers. When slightly older, more immediately successful dudes were making gestures toward professionalization, Malik was recording in the safety of his teenage bedroom with a microphone, a four-track cassette recorder, a Boss DR-660 drum machine, and a Gemini DS-1224, a sampler down-market from the comparatively expensive SP-1200. “I didn’t have no pre-made beats until after the cassette era,” he says, laughing to himself. “Before that I couldn’t save my beats. Recorded to tape, letting the drum machine play, hitting the loop, and rapping at the same time. I can’t imagine trying to do that shit now. That shit was crazy!”

In this 2017 interview (5:05) with All Def Music, Tommy Wright III names the Boss DR-660 and DR-5 as the go to machines for himself and others in the Memphis scene.

In this 2024 interview presented by Shangri-La Records, Blackout confirms that he started off with the Boss DR-660.

At 18:24, Blackout states:

"I was using the Boss DR-660 during the core history"

A nice touch: someone in the audience exclaim "YES!" when the 660 gets name checked.

The Blackout Mixtapes 93-95 is one of the earlier productions by Blackout ever released. Already at 0:08, we can hear the 660 patterns kicking in. Throughout his whole discography, Black makes sure to stick loyal to his DR, with a huge probability of its patterns being responsible for the rhythmization of 95% of his discography.

In a 2013 Facebook post titled "Studio lens," YSE showcases the Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-660 drum machine positioned beneath the ARP 2600 in their studio setup.

In this 2019 interview for lebronjames.co (huh? yeah, no idea what's going on there), Gant Man recounts the gear he encountered at Paul Johnson's house:

Q: What was that first pro equipment that you were learning on?

When I first started messing around, I was probably eleven or twelve, and my brother had a Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-110, this really old-school, very limited drum machine. It sounded like a baby, puny 808. Then my brother also had a Roland TR-707 around, and that’s when I actually started learning how to program a little bit better. The radio station had a production studio that had an old-school Yamaha drum machine, but it was kinda weak. It didn’t really have the sounds that we liked to use. So when I got to Paul Johnson’s house, he had a Boss Dr. Rhythm 660 and an Akai S01 sampler, plus a mixing board, studio monitors, cassette deck and all that. He eventually upgraded to a Roland R70 drum machine from there, and then a MPC3000. So my production kind of advanced from there.

In this 2019 interview posted to Mr. Zee's YouTube channel, DJ Sound lets the world know that he "miss(es) his Boss (DR) 660" (29:20).

In his June 4, 2021 blog post for Loaded Samples, author BINSU states:

DJ Spanish Fly had been producing his own tracks since the 80s, but by 1992 he began using the Boss DR-660 drum machine which was a major turning point for the Memphis Rap Genre.

Additionally, in a Dec 10, 2024 feature for Oxford American DJ Spanish fly himself provided images from his personal archive, one of which bares the caption:

Performing my greatest hits in North Mississippi with a Roland Boss 660 drum machine along with Capt. C.

In this 2016 feature for 5mag.net, author Terry Matthew interviews Jerome Baker (aka "DJ Boris", aka "Lord Damien"). In the process, some equipment is revealed:

At gigs, I had my drum machine of choice, the Boss DR-660, and I’d take it with me and play tracks off of that. Little did I know that Green Velvet, Caj, was at a party and heard one of these tracks. I went to the Cajual/Relief offices one day and Caj came out of the office and was like, “I know you!” We reintroduced ourselves and he mentioned that track I played at the gig. I said it was right on this tape here. He waved me into his office and I threw it in and that’s where the first Relief Records release came from – Black Damien as “DJ Boris.” It was just songs from my DR-660. “Apacalypse” was on there, and I think that’s probably still my biggest record. I know it’s one of my favorites. And it’s actually a re-do of an idea that was one of the tracks I let Gene hear that was “angry!” You can hear how angry “Apacalypse” is even now, but I had a much better arrangement on it. That’s how that EP ended up coming out.