Record Store Day’s 2023 Black Friday Exclusives Lineup: From Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Guts’ Outtakes to a Plethora of Classic Hip-Hop Reissues
02.10.2023 - 19:53
/ variety.com
Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Record Store Day has announced a lineup of more than 170 exclusive titles for its annual Black Friday event this fall, with the “black” almost being a misnomer for this particular Nov. 24, 2023 rollout — given the amount of purple, gold, red, blue, green, marble, clear and splatter-colored vinyl variants on the list.
The number of classic hip-hop titles on the list shows clear evidence of Record Store Days’ and the participating labels’ interest in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the genre with an abundance of product, after years in which there were fewer hip-hop RSD releases than some fans might have liked. Among those with reissues or collections being released as exclusives or “RSD First” items are Dr.
Dre, Lil Wayne, Nas, De La Soul, Schooly D, Three 6 Mafia and Digital Underground. But the single most anticipated title, just based on the current popularity of the artists represented, might be an EP from recent album-chart champion Olivia Rodrigo, “Guts: The Secret Tracks.” The disc gathers together the four tracks that ended up being unbilled surprises on four different vinyl variants that were issued of her sophomore album, “Guts.” This EP is apparently the only physical release of those four songs — “Obsessed,” “Scared of My Guitar,” “Stranger” and “Girl I’ve Always Been” — apart from the LPs they already individually appeared on.
Pressed in an edition of only 6,000 copies, “The Secret Tracks” might be this day’s hottest title, even if it doesn’t inspire the Taylor Swift-level hysteria seen when that star has released exclusives for RSD. All told, about 175 exclusives are coming out in indie stores on the day after Thanksgiving, about half the number
.