Beatboxing (also, and sometimes, called beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (usually a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound produ ...

.TOWARD A BEATBOXOLOGY
Human Beatbox It may also involve vocal imitation of

turntablism Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating new music, sound effects, mixes and other creative sounds and beats, typically by using two or more Phonograph, turntables and a cross fader-equipped DJ mixer. The mixer is plugged into ...

, and other

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...

s. Beatboxing today is connected with

hip-hop culture Hip-hop culture is an art movement that emerged in New York City, in the borough of The Bronx; Primarily within the black community. Hip Hop as an art form and culture has been heavily influenced by both male and female artists. It is charac ...

, often referred to as "the fifth element" of hip-hop, although it is not limited to

hip-hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...

. The term "beatboxing" is sometimes used to refer to vocal percussion in general.

Origins

Techniques similar to beatboxing have been employed in diverse American musical genres since the 19th century, such as early rural music, both black and white, religious songs,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

, and hokum. Examples include the

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

n technique of eefing and the blues song ''Bye bye bird'' by

Sonny Boy Williamson II Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp s ...

. Additional influences may perhaps include forms of African traditional music, in which performers utilize 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. 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 Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

's " That Would Be Something" (1970) includes vocal percussion.

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

's " Pow R. Toc H." (1967) also includes vocal percussion performed by the group's original lead vocalist, Syd Barrett. Jazz singers Bobby McFerrin and

Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and songwriter. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and ...

were very well known for their vocal styles and techniques, which have had great impact on techniques beatboxers use today.

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

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 "Billie Jean" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on January 3, 1983, as the second single from his sixth studio album, ''Thriller (album), Thriller'' (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson, produ ...

", " The Girl Is Mine", and others. Jackson beatboxes while explaining how he composed " Tabloid Junkie", " The Girl Is Mine", " Who Is It", "

", and " Streetwalker" (song on the ''Bad'' album 2001 Special Edition) In contrast, the English progressive rock band Jethro Tull adopted beatboxing on at least one track on their 2003 Christmas album. Gert Fröbe, a German actor most widely known for playing Auric Goldfinger in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film '' Goldfinger'', "beatboxes" as Colonel Manfred von Holstein (simultaneously vocalizing horned and percussive instruments) in '' Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines'', a 1965 British comedy film.

Contribution to hip-hop

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 early

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

s, then known as beatboxes, particularly, and specifically, the

Roland TR-808 The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patterns. ...

. The term "beatbox" was used to refer to earlier

Roland Roland (; ; or ''Rotholandus''; or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was mil ...

drum machines such as the TR-55 and CR-78 in the 1970s.HISTORY OF BEATBOX: OLD SCHOOL
Human Beatbox They were followed by the TR-808, released in 1980, which became central to

hip hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...

and

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

. It is the TR-808 that human beatboxing is largely modeled after. "Human beatboxing" in hip-hop originated in the 1980s. Its early pioneers include Doug E. Fresh, the self-proclaimed first "human beatbox" (and arguably its most famous practitioner); Swifty, the first to implement the inhale sound technique; Buffy, who helped perfect many beatboxing techniques; and Wise, who contributed significantly to beat boxing's proliferation. Wise inspired an entire new fan base of human beatboxers with his human turntable technique. Other pioneers of beatboxing include

Rahzel Rozell Manely Brown (born October 6, 1964) is an American beatboxer and rapper, formerly a member of the Roots. Rahzel is known for an ability to sing or rap while simultaneously beatboxing, as evidenced in his performances of "Iron Man" and h ...

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 and Afrika Islam. Many refer to beatboxing as the unofficial 5th element of hip-hop.

Modern beatboxing

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 the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film '' My 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 as

, RoxorLoops, Reeps One and

Alem Alem is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is a part of the municipality of Maasdriel, and lies about 10 km north of 's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Ne ...

. In the Pacific, American beatboxer of Hawaii Chinese descent Jason Tom co-founded the Human Beatbox Academy to perpetuate the art of beatboxing through outreach performances, speaking engagements and workshops in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, the westernmost and southernmost major U.S. city of the 50th U.S. state of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. 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 they throat sing or hum. Engaging different articulators like the

tongue The tongue is a Muscle, muscular organ (anatomy), organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for chewing and swallowing as part of the digestive system, digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper s ...

and lips in rapid succession creates the illusion of hearing multiple sounds performed at once. Beatboxers also utilize the independence of

larynx The larynx (), commonly called the voice box, is an organ (anatomy), organ in the top of the neck involved in breathing, producing sound and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. The opening of larynx into pharynx known as the laryngeal ...

and other articulators to produce sound with both simultaneously. Modern beatboxing has also evolved with the advent of technology such as live looping. Many beatboxers like Beardyman, KRNFX, and The 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. Artist Greg 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 as '' Pitch Perfect'' and '' Pitch 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.

Notation

As with other musical disciplines, some form of

musical notation Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proce ...

or transcription may sometimes be useful in order to describe beatbox patterns or performances. Sometimes this takes the form of

ad hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...

phonetic approximations, but is occasionally more formal. is usually the bass drum, is usually the snare drum, and () is usually the hi-hat (in : 𝄆b-ts-k-ts-b-ts-k-ts𝄇).
Standard Beatbox Notation
(SBN) was created by Mark Splinter and Gavin Tyte o
Humanbeatbox.com
in 2006 as an alternative to

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standard written representation ...

(IPA) transcription, which had been used sparingly before then. In a research study published in 2013 and based on real-time

MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and rad ...

imaging of a beatboxer, the authors propose a notation system which combines the

with musical staff notation, in part motivated by their observation that many beatboxing sounds can be adequately represented by the IPA.

Phonology

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 the voice box that give intensity to percussive sounds. The "t", "p", and "k" sounds can all be made into ejectives. "Ch", typically represented as ͡ʃ and "j", usually ͡ʒ are some examples of (ejective) affricates. Nonstandard

fricatives A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...

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 are all judged impossible according to the IPA but are technically possible and are sounds that are commonly used in beatboxing. Coarticulation is the act of controlling a sound in two places at once. A common example of this is the sound that is created when a rolled sound and a sound are simultaneously said and pronounced. This is called a voiced alveolar trill with labiodental articulation. Similarly,

epenthesis In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the first syllable ('' prothesis''), the last syllable ('' paragoge''), or between two syllabic sounds in a word. The opposite process in whi ...

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.

Multi-vocalism

Multi-vocalism is a form of vocal musicianship conceptualized by British beatboxer and vocalist Killa Kela. It describes beatboxers who incorporate other vocal disciplines and practices into their routines and performances such as

singing Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

, sound mimicry and other vocal arts. Beardyman is a well known multi-vocalist.

World records

According to the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

, the current record for the largest human beatbox ensemble was set by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, with 6,430 participants, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a Special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the List of ...

on 26 June 2017. Prior to this, the record was set by Booking.com employees with 4,659 participants. It was achieved by Booking.com employees together with beatboxers at the RAI Amsterdam in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, on 10 December 2013 during their annual company meeting. 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. Before Shlomo's record, the previous record for the largest human beatbox ensemble involved 1,246 participants and was achieved by Vineeth Vincent and Christ University (India) in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, on 5 February 2011.

Selected discography

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.

1980s

* Michael Winslow – '' Police Academy'' (1984) * Fat Boys – "Human Beat Box" from '' Fat Boys'' (1984) * Doug E. Fresh – " The Show" & "

La Di Da Di "La Di Da Di" is a song performed by Doug E. Fresh, who provides the beatboxed instrumental, and MC Ricky D (later known as Slick Rick), who performs the vocals. It was originally released in 1985 as the B-side to " The Show". The song has si ...

" (1985) * UTFO - " Bite It (UTFO song)" (1985) * Stephen Wiley - "Rappin for Jesus", " Damiyon Everly sound effects Human beat boxer" (1986) *Emanon – "The Baby Beatbox" (1986) *

Roxanne Shante Lolita Shante Gooden (born November 9, 1969), better known by her stage name Roxanne Shante, is an American rapper. She first gained attention in 1984 through the Roxanne Wars, and was part of the Juice Crew. The 2017 film ''Roxanne Roxanne'' ...

Biz Markie Marcel Theo Hall (April 8, 1964 – July 16, 2021), known professionally as Biz Markie, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, and record producer who gained prominence during hip hop's golden age. He was particularly recognized for ...

– "Def Fresh Crew / Biz Beat" 12" (1986) * Just-Ice – '' Back to the Old School'' (1986) * Skinny Boys- Jockbox (1986) * T La Rock - Three Minutes of BeatBox (1987) " Greg Nice Beatboxer" * Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince- Rock the House Ready Rock C -Beatboxer (1987) * Wise – Just Say Stet (1985), Faye (1986) & Stet Troop 88 (1988) *

–

Goin' Off ''Goin' Off'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop musician Biz Markie. The album was released by Cold Chillin' Records, and produced by Marley Marl. Big Daddy Kane wrote the lyrics of the album's first five songs. The album also showcas ...

''(includes beatbox track "Make The Music With Your Mouth, Biz")'' (1988) * Vanilla Ice – Havin' a Roni – from ''To The Extreme'' (1990) *

Snap! SNAP! is a German Eurodance group formed in 1989 by producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. The act has undergone several lineup changes over the years, featuring American singers, songwriters, and rappers such as Thea Austin, Turbo ...

– Only Human – B-side on Mary Had A Little Boy 12" (1990)

1990s

– '' Make The Music 2000'' (1999)

2000s

* Kyle "Scratch" Jones – ''The Embodiment of Instrumentation'' (2002) * Killa Kela – ''The Permanent Marker'' (2002) * Esham – ''Out Cold'' (2003) *

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Pop", ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' honored him as the b ...

– " Rock Your Body" (2003) *

– '' Rahzel's Greatest Knock Outs'' (2004) *

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

– '' Medúlla'' (2004) * Joel Turner – " These Kids" (2004) * Matisyahu – " Live at Stubb's" (2005) *

– '' Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz'' (2006) * Poizunus – ''A.D.D.'' (Active Dreaming Disorder) (2007) * Kid Beyond – ''Amplivate'' (2004) * Blake Lewis – '' A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream)'' (2007) * Dub FX – "Everythinks a Ripple" (2009)

2010s

* Beardyman – '' I Done a Album'' (2011) * Hopsin – "Lunch Time Cypher" (2013) * Reeps One – "Move" (2013) * Berywam - "Berywam" (2017) * NaPoM – "Lips" (2018)

2020s

*Show-Go - "Silver" (2022) *D-low - "LanigirO" (2022) *Stitch - "Stay With Me" (2022) *Den - "Moments I had" (2022) *Wing - "Dopamine" (2025)

In popular culture

When asked to beatbox,

Siri Siri ( , backronym: Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface) is a digital assistant purchased, developed, and popularized by Apple Inc., which is included in the iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, Apple TV, audioOS, and visionOS operating sys ...

will repeat the phrase "Boots and Cats" to mimic beatboxing. ''

Teen Vogue ''Teen Vogue'' is an American progressive online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to '' Vogue'', targeted at teenage girls and young women. Like ''Vogue'', it included stories about fashion and ...

'' called it "perhaps the most entertaining mid-day pick-me-up ever created." Hamilton: An American Musical used some beatboxing in "Aaron Burr, Sir". Beatboxing can often be seen in national advertisements. A

GEICO The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is an American vehicle insurance company headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland. In addition to auto insurance, GEICO provides motorcycle, ATV, RV, boat, snowmobile, travel, pet, event, hom ...

radio commercial, featuring a supermarket employee beatboxing various announcements over a store intercom ("Cleanup on aisle 14" with beats interspersed), won the Westwood One Sports Sounds Awards Media Choice Award for best commercial heard during the radio network's coverage of Super Bowl LII. A 2021 national M&M's commercial seen in Times Square features American beatbox looping champion SungBeats.

References

External links

Beatboxing-Communities supporting the scene for more than 10 years:
Swissbeatbox.com
- World's largest Beatbox Platform.
Beatboxbattle.tv
- Organizer of the World Beatbox Championship.
Humanbeatbox.com
- One of the first Beatboxing Online-Communities. {{Authority control Vocal skills Vocal percussion