Beatboxing (also, and sometimes, calledbeat boxing) is a form ofvocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimickingdrum machines (usually aTR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, andvoice.[1] It may also involve vocal imitation ofturntablism, and othermusical instruments. Beatboxing today is connected withhip-hop culture, often referred to as "the fifth element" of hip-hop, although it is not limited tohip-hop music.[2][3] The term "beatboxing" is sometimes used to refer to vocal percussion in general.
Techniques similar to beatboxing have been employed in diverseAmerican musical genres since the 19th century, such asearly rural music, both black and white, religious songs,blues,ragtime,vaudeville, andhokum. Examples include theAppalachian technique ofeefing and the blues songBye bye bird bySonny Boy Williamson II.
Additional influences may perhaps include forms ofAfrican traditional music, in which performersutilize their bodies (e.g., by clapping or stomping) as percussion instruments and produce sounds with their mouths by breathing loudly in and out, a technique used in beatboxing today.[4][5]
Vocal percussion [is], "the imitation or approximation of percussion instruments," and beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion but can be described as, "music with your mouth... beatboxing is making andbeing the music, not just rhythm." ...Beatboxing is both the rhythm — predominantly through thebass andsnare drums as well ashi-hat — while also incorporating various sound effects such as DJscratching, synthesizers, andbass lines. Using the mouth, lips, tongue, and voice to make music is thus the beatboxer's equivalent to a pianist's fingers and arms.[6][7]
Many well-known performers used vocal percussion occasionally, even though this was not directly connected to the cultural tradition that came to be known as beatboxing.Paul McCartney's "That Would Be Something" (1970) includes vocal percussion.Pink Floyd's "Pow R. Toc H." (1967) also includes vocal percussion performed by the group's original lead vocalist,Syd Barrett. Jazz singersBobby McFerrin andAl Jarreau were very well known for their vocal styles and techniques, which have had great impact on techniques beatboxers use today.Michael Jackson was known to record himself beatboxing on a dictation tape recorder as a demo and scratch recording to compose several of his songs, including "Billie Jean", "The Girl Is Mine", and others.[8] In contrast, the English progressive rock bandJethro Tull adopted beatboxing on at least one track on their2003 Christmas album.Gert Fröbe, a German actor most widely known for playingAuric Goldfinger in theJames Bond filmGoldfinger, "beatboxes" as Colonel Manfred von Holstein (simultaneously vocalizing horned and percussive instruments) inThose Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, a 1965 British comedy film.
Modern beatboxing first began as a way to assist or backup the MC. When drum machines were unavailable or unaffordable, communities in the inner city of New York began to mimic the sounds with their voices in ciphers. The term "beatboxing" is derived from the mimicry of earlydrum machines, then known as beatboxes, particularly, and specifically, theRoland TR-808.[1] The term "beatbox" was used to refer to earlierRoland drum machines such as theTR-55 andCR-78 in the 1970s.[9] They were followed by the TR-808, released in 1980, which became central tohip hop music[9] andelectronic dance music.[1] It is the TR-808 that human beatboxing is largely modeled after.[1]
"Human beatboxing" in hip-hop originated in the 1980s. Its early pioneers includeDoug E. Fresh, the self-proclaimed first "human beatbox" (and arguably its most famous practitioner);[10] Swifty, the first to implement the inhale sound technique[citation needed];Buffy, who helped perfect many beatboxing techniques;[11] andWise, who contributed significantly to beat boxing's proliferation.[citation needed] Wise inspired an entire new fan base of human beatboxers with his human turntable technique. Other pioneers of beatboxing includeRahzel well known for his realistic robotic sounds and for his ability to sing and beatbox simultaneously,Scratch a beatboxer and musician well known for further revolutionizing the use of vocal scratching in beatboxing, Kenny Muhammad the Human Orchestra, a beatboxer known for his technicality and outstanding rhythmic precision, who pioneered the inward k snare, a beatbox technique that imitates a snare drum by breathing inward, and Emanon, an early protegee of Doug E. Fresh associated with Ice T andAfrika Islam.[12] Many refer to beatboxing as the unofficial 5th element of hip-hop.
The Internet has played a large part in the popularity of modern beatboxing. Alex Tew (aka A-Plus) started the first online community of beatboxers in 2000 under the banner of HUMANBEATBOX.COM. An early example of modern beatboxing was seen in the2001South Koreanromantic comedy filmMy Sassy Girl. In 2001, Gavin Tyte, a member of this community created the world's first tutorials and video tutorials on beatboxing. In 2003, the community held the world's first Human Beatbox Convention in London featuring beatbox artists from all over the world.
Beatboxing's current popularity is due in part to releases from artists such asRahzel,RoxorLoops,Reeps One andAlem. In the Pacific, American beatboxer ofHawaii Chinese descent Jason Tom co-founded the Human Beatbox Academy to perpetuate the art of beatboxing through outreach performances, speaking engagements and workshops inHonolulu, the westernmost and southernmost major U.S. city of the 50th U.S. state ofHawaii.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19]
Sometimes, modern beatboxers will use their hand or another part of their body to extend the spectrum of sound effects and rhythm. Some have developed a technique that involves blowing and sucking air around their fingers to produce a very realistic record scratching noise, which is commonly known as the "crab scratch". Another hand technique includes the "throat tap", which involves beatboxers tapping their fingers against their throats as theythroat sing or hum. Beatboxers today can produce up to two different sounds at the same time.[citation needed]
Modern beatboxing has also evolved with the advent of technology such as live looping. Many beatboxers likeBeardyman,KRNFX, andThe Petebox use modern looping devices such as the Boss RC-505 to sample or layer their beatboxing sounds live on stage, in addition to traditional solo beatboxing. Such adaptation has allowed modern beatboxers to perform entire musical compositions much like DJs but with their mouths.
Today there is an increase in the variety in which we see beatboxing throughout musical culture. People have gone as far as adding beatboxing in with different instruments to create a completely different sound unlike any other. ArtistGreg Patillo goes as far as adding in beatboxing while playing the flute to very iconic songs. Beatbox has become modernized and has even been seen in popular movies such asPitch Perfect andPitch Perfect 2. These movies showcase classical songs performed with a cappella covers in which all of the beats to the songs are done completely using the idea and technique of beatboxing to complete the sound capable to imitate the original song.
As with other musical disciplines, some form ofmusical notation ortranscription may sometimes be useful in order to describe beatbox patterns or performances. Sometimes this takes the form ofad hoc phonetic approximations, but is occasionally more formal.[b] is usually the bass drum,[k] is usually the snare drum, and/ts/ ([t͡s]) is usually the hi-hat (in4
4: 𝄆b-ts-k-ts-b-ts-k-ts𝄇).
Standard Beatbox Notation (SBN) was created by Mark Splinter and Gavin Tyte[20] ofHumanbeatbox.com in 2006[21] as an alternative toInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcription, which had been used sparingly before then.
In a research study published in 2013 and based on real-timeMRI imaging of a beatboxer, the authors propose a notation system which combines theInternational Phonetic Alphabet with musicalstaff notation, in part motivated by their observation that many beatboxing sounds can be adequately represented by the IPA.[22]
Each beatboxer can produce a very large number of unique sounds, but there are three distinct linguistic categories of sound within beatboxing.Ejectives are the strong puffs of air from thevoice box that give intensity to percussive sounds. The "t", "p", and "k" sounds can all be made into ejectives[dubious –discuss]. "Ch", typically represented as [t͡ʃ], and "j", usually [d͡ʒ], are some examples of (ejective) affricates.
Nonstandardfricatives are the mechanical sounds such as snare drums, cymbals, and other buzzing noises in beatboxing that are made with fricatives. Certain sounds, such as velar lateral fricatives, bilabial lateral fricatives, and linguolabial fricatives, and velar trills[23][24][25] are all judged impossible according to the IPA but are technically possible and are sounds that are commonly used in beatboxing.[26]
Coarticulation is the act of controlling a sound in two places at once. A common example of this is the sound created by rolling an "r" sound while saying a "v" sound. This is called a voiced alveolar trill with labiodental articulation. Similarly,epenthesis is the sound created when beatboxers sing and do percussion at the same time. Contrary to what the sound suggests, their tongue is not in two places at once. This effect is created by placing percussive sounds in the middle of words. [22]
Multi-vocalism is a form of vocal musicianship conceptualized by British beatboxer and vocalistKilla Kela. It describes beatboxers who incorporate other vocal disciplines and practices into their routines and performances such assinging,rapping, sound mimicry and other vocal arts.Beardyman is a well known multi-vocalist.
According to theGuinness World Records, the current record for the largest human beatbox ensemble was set byThe Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, with 6,430 participants, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of theHong Kong Special Administrative Region on 26 June 2017.[27]
Prior to this, the record was set byBooking.com employees with 4,659 participants. It was achieved by Booking.com employees together with beatboxers at the RAI Amsterdam inAmsterdam,Netherlands, on 10 December 2013 during their annual company meeting.[28]
The previous largest human beatbox ensemble involved 2,081 participants and was achieved by Google (Ireland), Shlomo (UK) and Testament (UK) at The Convention Centre, Dublin, Ireland, on 14 November 2011.[28]
Before Shlomo's record, the previous record for the largest human beatbox ensemble involved 1,246 participants and was achieved byVineeth Vincent andChrist University (India) in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, on 5 February 2011.[28]
This list is a selected discography of commercial releases which are mostly/entirely beatbox-based or are otherwise notable/influential records in the history of beatboxing and its popularization.
When asked to beatbox,Siri will repeat the phrase "Boots and Cats" to mimic beatboxing.[35]Teen Vogue called it "perhaps the most entertaining mid-day pick-me-up ever created."[36]Hamilton: An American Musical used some beatboxing in "Aaron Burr, Sir".
Beatboxing can often be seen in national advertisements. AGEICOradio commercial, featuring a supermarket employee beatboxing various announcements over a store intercom ("Cleanup on aisle 14" with beats interspersed), won theWestwood One Sports Sounds Awards Media Choice Award for best commercial heard during the radio network's coverage ofSuper Bowl LII.[37] A 2021 nationalM&M's commercial seen in Times Square features American beatbox looping championSungBeats.
quotes Jake Moulton (ofThe House Jacks andMosaic)
. 2002.A documentary on the history of the art form, including interviews with Doug E. Fresh,Emanon,Biz Markie,Marie Daulne ofZap Mama, Kyle Faustino, and others.2007-01-04
Beatboxing-Communities supporting the scene for more than 10 years:
