Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of

vocal percussion Vocal percussion is the art of creating sounds with one's mouth that approximate, imitate, or otherwise serve the same purpose as a percussion instrument, whether in a group of singers, an instrumental ensemble, or solo. In Western music Recent ...

primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically 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 production in ...

.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 turntables and a cross fader-equipped DJ mixer. The mixer is plugged into a PA system ...

, and other

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make 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 who pl ...

s. Beatboxing today is connected with

hip-hop culture Hip hop or hip-hop is a culture and art movement that was created by African Americans, Latino Americans and Caribbean Americans in the Bronx, New York City. Hip hop culture is characterized by four key elements: rapping, DJing and turntabli ...

, often referred to as "the fifth element" of hip-hop, although it is not limited to hip-hop music. The term "beatboxing" is sometimes used to refer to

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 which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

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

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

, and

hokum Hokum is a particular song type of American blues music—a humorous song which uses extended analogies or euphemistic terms to make sexual innuendos. This trope goes back to early blues recordings and is used from time to time in modern Ameri ...

. Examples include the

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...

n technique of

eefing Eefing (also written eeephing, eephing, eeefing, eefin, or eefn') is an Appalachian (United States) vocal technique similar to beatboxing, but nearly a century older. NPR's Jennifer Sharpe describes it as "a kind of hiccupping, rhythmic wheeze that ...

and the blues son
''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 st ...

. Additional influences may perhaps include forms of

African traditional music Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony is a music theory of harmony in sub-Saharan African Sub-Saharan African music traditions, music based on the principles of homophonic parallel harmony, parallelism (chords based around a leading melody that f ...

, 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

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 worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

's "

That Would Be Something "That Would Be Something" is a song written by Paul McCartney which was first released on his '' McCartney'' album on 17 April 1970. Recording McCartney sings and plays acoustic guitar, bass, electric guitar, tom tom and a cymbal. This song and " ...

" (1969) includes vocal percussion.

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English 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 experimentation, philo ...

's "

Pow R. Toc H. "Pow R. Toc H." is an instrumental, with vocal effects, by Pink Floyd on their 1967 album '' The Piper at the Gates of Dawn''. In addition to the vocal effects, the piano is a prominent instrument in the piece. Background Toc H. was the army sig ...

" (1967) also includes vocal percussion performed by the group's original lead vocalist,

Syd Barrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, songwriter, and musician who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Barrett was their original frontman and primary songwriter, becoming known for his ...

. Jazz singers

Bobby McFerrin Robert Keith McFerrin Jr. (born March 11, 1950) is an American folk and jazz singer. He is known for his vocal techniques, such as singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in pitch—for example, sustaining a melody while also rap ...

and

Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and musician. 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 R ...

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 one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

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 American singer Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on January 2, 1983, as the second single from his sixth studio album, '' Thriller'' (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Jackson and ...

", "

The Girl Is Mine "The Girl Is Mine" is a song recorded by American singer Michael Jackson and English musician Paul McCartney. The track was written by Jackson and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. It was released as the first single for Jackson's sixth s ...

", and others. Jackson beatboxes while explaining how he composed "

Tabloid Junkie "Tabloid Junkie" is a song performed by American recording artist Michael Jackson. The song appeared as the eleventh track on Jackson's ninth studio album, '' HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I'', which was released in 1995 as a two-disc ...

", "

", " Who Is It", "

", and "

Streetwalker Street prostitution is a form of sex work in which a sex worker solicits customers from a public place, most commonly a street, while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, but also other public places such as parks, benches, e ...

" (song on the ''Bad'' album 2001 Special Edition) In contrast, the English folk rock band Jethro Tull adopted beatboxing on at least one track on their 2003 Christmas album.

Gert Fröbe Karl Gerhart "Gert" Fröbe (; 25 February 1913 – 5 September 1988) was a German actor. He was best known in English-speaking countries for his work as Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film '' Goldfinger'', as Peachum in ''The Threepenny Oper ...

, a German actor most widely known for playing

Auric Goldfinger Auric Goldfinger is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Ian Fleming's 1959 seventh ''James Bond'' novel, '' Goldfinger'', and the 1964 film it inspired (the third in the ''James Bond'' series). His first name, Auric, is an adjectiv ...

in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

film '' Goldfinger'', "beatboxes" as Colonel Manfred von Holstein (simultaneously vocalizing horned and percussive instruments) in ''

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines ''Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines; Or, How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours and 11 Minutes'' is a 1965 British period comedy film that satirizes the early years of aviation. Directed and co-written by Ken Annakin, the film ...

'', 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 cyphers. The term "beatboxing" is derived from the mimicry of early drum machines, then known as beatboxes, particularly the

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

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

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando 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 ...

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 and electronic dance music. 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 Doug E. Fresh (born September 17, 1966) is a Barbados-born American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer, also known as the "Human Beat Box". The pioneer of 20th-century American beatboxing, Fresh is able to accurately imitate drum machines an ...

, 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 his ...

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 Charles Andre Glenn (born 1967), professionally known by his stage name Afrika Islam, is an American hip hop DJ and producer. He was one of the pioneers of hip hop culture and the hip hop radio station. He began his musical career in 1977 as a ...

. 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 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, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film ''

My Sassy Girl ''My Sassy Girl'' ( ko, 엽기적인 그녀, Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo, That Bizarre Girl) is a 2001 South Korean romantic comedy film directed by Kwak Jae-yong, starring Jun Ji-hyun and Cha Tae-hyun. The film is based on a true story told in a series ...

''. 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 Senjka Danhieux (born 28 April 1984, in Jette), better known under his stage name RoxorLoops, is a Belgian beatboxer and songwriter. He currently lives in Denmark, where he studied vocal leading and singing at the Royal Academy of Music in Aal ...

, 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. It used to part of the province in North Brabant. In 1934, it became part of Gelderland. ...

. 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 capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

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

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. 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. Beatboxers today can produce up to 2 different sounds at the same time. Modern beatboxing has also evolved with the advent of technology such as live looping. Many beatboxers like the

Beardyman Darren Alexander Foreman (born 14 May 1982), better known as Beardyman, is a British multivocalist, musician and comedian from London known for his beatboxing skills and use of live looping. Early life After studying at Queen Elizabeth's Gramm ...

KRNFX Terry Im (born May 13, 1989), better known by his stage name KRNFX (stylised krNfx; also pronounced "Korean FX"), is a Korean-Canadian beatboxer and singer. He is perhaps best known for his participation in the first season of ''Canada's Got Tale ...

, and

The Petebox ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

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 DJ's 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 Greg Pattillo (born July 1, 1977) is an American beatboxing flutist originally from Seattle, but now operating in Brooklyn, New York. He was lauded by ''The New York Times'' as "the best person in the world at what he does." His performance v ...

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 ''Pitch Perfect'' is a 2012 American musical comedy film directed by Jason Moore and written by Kay Cannon. It features an ensemble cast, including Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Skylar Astin, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Hana Mae Lee, Alexis Knap ...

'' and ''

Pitch Perfect 2 ''Pitch Perfect 2'' is a 2015 American musical comedy film directed and produced by Elizabeth Banks (in her feature directorial debut) and written by Kay Cannon. It is a sequel to the 2012 film ''Pitch Perfect'' and the second installment in the ...

''. 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 Music notation or musical notation is any system used to visually represent aurally perceived music played with instruments or sung by the human voice through the use of written, printed, or otherwise-produced symbols, including notation fo ...

transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...

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

ad hoc Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with ''a priori''.) Com ...

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 transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...

(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 form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves ...

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

with musical

staff notation In Western musical notation, the staff (US and UK)"staff" in the Collin ...

, 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 In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. Some l ...

are the strong puffs of air from the voice box that give intensity to percussive sounds. The "t", "p", "k", "d", "b", and "g" sounds can all be made into ejectives. "Ch" and "j" are 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 Coarticulation in its general sense refers to a situation in which a conceptually isolated speech sound is influenced by, and becomes more like, a preceding or following speech sound. There are two types of coarticulation: ''anticipatory coarticulat ...

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 In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the beginning syllable ('' prothesis'') or in the ending syllable (''paragoge'') or in-between two syllabic sounds in a word. The word ''epenth ...

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 Killa Kela (born Lee Potter) is a British beatboxer and rapper from West Sussex. Career Killa Kela’s career started in 1997 when he formed a 10 collective strong U.K Hip Hop crew called 360 Physicals; composed of MC’s DJ’s and graffit ...

. It describes Beatboxers who incorporate other vocal disciplines and practices into their routines and performances such as

singing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, sound mimicry and other vocal arts.

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 reference book published annually, listing world ...

, the current record for the largest human beatbox ensemble was set by

Booking.com Booking.com, headquartered in Amsterdam, is one of the largest online travel agencies. It is a subsidiary of Booking Holdings. History In 1996, Geert-Jan Bruinsma, a student at Universiteit Twente, founded Bookings.nl. In 2000, Booking.com w ...

employees. The record involved 4,659 participants and was achieved by

employees together with beatboxers at the RAI Amsterdam in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, 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 Vineeth Vincent (born 9 July 1989) is a Beatboxer, Musician, emcee and performing artist from Bangalore, Karnataka, India. He is considered one of the biggest beatboxers in India. Career Vineeth Vincent started off as a professional emcee in ...

and

Christ University CHRIST - Deemed to be University is a deemed to be university in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Founded in 1969 as Christ College, the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India conferred autonomy to Christ College in 2004. On 22 July 2008 i ...

(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 Michael Leslie Winslow (born September 6, 1958) is an American actor, comedian and beatboxer billed as The Man of 10,000 Sound Effects for his ability to make realistic sounds using only his voice. He is best known for his roles in all seven '' ...

– ''

Police Academy A police academy, also known as a law enforcement training center, police college, or police university, is a training school for police cadets, designed to prepare them for the law enforcement agency they will be joining upon graduation, or othe ...

'' (1984) *

Fat Boys The Fat Boys were an American hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York, who emerged in the early 1980s. The group was briefly known originally as the Disco 3, originally composed of Mark " Prince Markie Dee" Morales, Damon "Kool Rock-Ski" Wimbley, ...

– "Human Beat Box" from "

" (1984) *

– " 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 since ...

" (1985) *Emanon - "The Baby Beatbox" (1986) *

Roxanne Shante Lolita Shante Gooden (born March 8, 1970), better known by her stage name Roxanne Shante, is an American rapper. Born and raised in the Queensbridge Projects of Queens, New York City, Shante first gained attention through the Roxanne Wars and w ...

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. Markie was best known for his 1989 single "Just a Friend", which became a Top 40 hit in ...

- "Def Fresh Crew / Biz Beat" 12" (1986) *

Just-Ice Joseph Williams Jr. (born June 22, 1965), better known by the stage name Just-Ice, is an American rapper from New York City. A former bouncer at punk clubs, Williams was the first of the New York rappers to embrace gangsta rap, and when he bur ...

– ''

Back to the Old School ''Back to the Old School'' is the debut album by American rapper Just-Ice. It was released in 1986, and was produced by Kurtis Mantronik. The album has been described as a classic early hip-hop album and revolutionary for its time by Allmusic. ...

'' (1986) * Wise – Just Say Stet (1985), Faye (1986) & Stet Troop 88 (1988) *Biz Markie –

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 Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1967), known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in South Dallas, and raised in Texas and South Florida, Ice released his debut album, ''Hooked'', ...

– Havin' a Roni – from ''To The Extreme'' (1990) *

Snap! Snap! is a German Eurodance group formed in 1989 by Record producer, producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. The act has been through a number of line-up changes over the years, including American singers, songwriters and rappers Thea A ...

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

1990s

– ''

Make The Music 2000 ''Make The Music 2000'' is the debut studio album by American beatboxer and hip hop artist Rahzel. It was released on August 10, 1999 via MCA Records. Production was handled by several record producers, including Bob Power, Marley Marl, Pete Rock, ...

'' (1999)

2000s

* Kyle "Scratch" Jones – ''The Embodiment of Instrumentation'' (2002) *

– ''The Permanent Marker'' (2002) *

Esham Esham is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. Esham released his debut studio album, '' Boomin' Words from Hell'', in 1989. Since then, he has gone on to release 15 studio albums in total and is best known as a representative of the hip ...

– ''Out Cold'' (2003) *

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...

– "

Rock Your Body "Rock Your Body" is a song by American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake from his debut studio album, '' Justified'' (2002). The Neptunes (consisting of Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams) wrote and produced the song. The song features backgroun ...

" (2003) *

– ''

Rahzel's Greatest Knock Outs ''Rahzel's Greatest Knock Outs!'' is the second album by American beatboxer and hip hop artist Rahzel. It was released on June 1, 2004, via Sure Shot Recordings. Track listing Personnel * Rahzel Manely Brown – main artist *William Tramon ...

'' (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 three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

– ''

Medúlla ''Medúlla'' is the fifth studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was released on 30 August 2004 in the United Kingdom by One Little Indian Records and in the United States by Elektra Entertainment. After the release of her electron ...

'' (2004) * Joel Turner – "

These Kids "These Kids" is a song by Australian beatboxer Joel Turner and Australian hip hop duo the Modern Day Poets. It was independently released as the lead single from their self-titled debut album on 27 September 2004. The song was written in Dece ...

" (2004) *

Matisyahu Matthew Paul Miller (born June 30, 1979), known by his stage name Matisyahu (; ), is an American reggae singer, rapper, beatboxer Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum mac ...

– " Live at Stubb's" (2005) *

– '' Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz'' (2006) *

Poizunus Poizunus is a Canadian beatboxer. History Since touring England in 2005 and performing at the Miami Winter Music Conference with artists DJ Craze and Killa Kela in 2006, Poizunus has been moderately successful both locally and internationally. R ...

– ''A.D.D.'' (Active Dreaming Disorder) (2007) *

Kid Beyond Andrew Chaikin, better known by his stage name Kid Beyond, is an American singer, beatboxer, live looper and voice actor, based in the San Francisco area. Early career Chaikin attended Brown University and was a leader in the co-ed fraternity Z ...

– ''Amplivate'' (2004) *

Blake Lewis Blake Colin Lewis (born July 21, 1981) is an American musician, singer and actor who was the runner-up on the sixth season of ''American Idol''. His major label debut album '' A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream)'' was released on December 4, 2007, through ...

– ''

A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) ''A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream)'' is the debut studio album by Blake Lewis, the runner-up on the sixth season of ''American Idol''. It was released in the United States and Canada on December 4, 2007. The first single is " Break Anotha" and was relea ...

'' (2007) *

Dub FX Benjamin Stanford (born 11 June 1983), better known by his stage name Dub FX (stylized as ''Dub Fx'' or ''DubFx''), is an Australian musician and worldwide street performer. Born in St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia,Moses, Allan (2010)Dubbing in ...

– "Everythinks a Ripple" (2009)

2010s

– '' I Done A Album'' (2011) *

Hopsin Marcus Jamal Hopson (born July 18, 1985), known professionally as Hopsin, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles. In 2007, he was signed to Ruthless Records, and had founded his own record label, Funk Volume, i ...

– "Lunch Time Cypher" (2013) * Reeps One – "Move" (2013) *

Berywam Berywam is a French beatbox crew based in Toulouse, France. They won the French Beatbox Championship 2016. Their EP was released on 2 June 2017. They also won the Beatbox Battle World Championship 2018 in crew category. Career 2015–2016 ...

- "Berywam" (2017) * NaPoM – "Lips" (2018)

In popular culture

When asked to beatbox,

Siri Siri ( ) is a virtual assistant that is part of Apple Inc.'s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS operating systems. It uses voice queries, gesture based control, focus-tracking and a natural-language user interface to answer questio ...

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

Teen Vogue ''Teen Vogue'' is an American online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'', targeted at teenagers. Like ''Vogue'', it included stories about fashion and celebrities. Since ...

'' 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 a private American auto insurance company with headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm. GEICO is a wholly owne ...

radio commercial In the United States, commercial radio stations make most of their revenue by selling airtime to be used for running radio advertisements. These advertisements are the result of a business or a service providing a valuable consideration, usually ...

, featuring a supermarket employee beatboxing various announcements over a store intercom ("Cleanup on aisle 14" with beats interspersed), won the

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...

Sports Sounds Awards Media Choice Award for best commercial heard during the radio network's coverage of

Super Bowl LII Super Bowl LII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2017 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles defeated the American Football Conferen ...

. A 2021 national

M&M's M&M's (stylized as m&m's) are multi-colored button-shaped chocolates, each of which has the letter "m" printed in lower case in white on one side, consisting of a candy shell surrounding a filling which varies depending upon the variety of M&M ...

commercial seen in Times Square features American beatbox looping champion

SungBeats ''Sung Lee,'' professionally known as ''SungBeats,'' is a beatboxer, live looper, and former busker based in NYC. He is best known for winning Amateur Night at the Apollo (2014), and the ''American Beatbox Championships'', Loopstation (2018). ...

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

Origins

Contribution to hip-hop

Modern beatboxing

Notation

Phonology

Multi-vocalism

World records

Selected discography

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

In popular culture

See also

References

External links