Phonk: BPM, drum pattern and how to make it
Phonk is a dark, heavy style of hip hop at about 130–160 BPM with a half-time feel: a melody on a tuned 808 cowbell, a distorted 808 bass and one snare per bar on beat 3. It grew out of 1990s Memphis rap on SoundCloud in the 2010s, and its faster drift phonk form spread through car videos and TikTok in the 2020s.
A cowbell melody, half-time drums and a distorted 808. Tempo 145 BPM in the loop below, no swing.
The loop
- Bar 1Am
- Bar 2F
- Bar 3C
- Bar 4G
Four bars over Am, F, C, G. Mute a track or solo it to hear what each part does; tap any box to change it.
Make phonk yourself
The course starts with the beat under every genre and builds up from there. Unit 1 is free with a Google sign-in, in your browser.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1; the parts of phonk come one chapter at a time.
How to make phonk
Start from an empty grid at 145 BPM and add the patterns in this order. Each step names the pattern, says where it falls in the sixteen steps of a bar, and lights its lanes on the loop above when you point at it or tap Show. The same loop is in the beat maker, if you would rather start from the finished beat and take things away.
- Step 2 Triplet hat rolls
Eighth-note hats with a roll of three near the end of the bar. On the grid: hats on steps 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15; a roll of three on 14 of 16.
- Step 3 808 glide
A distorted 808 that slides up an octave and back. On the grid: 808 octave on step 7 of 16, each held for 4 steps; 808 root on steps 1 and 11 of 16, each held for 6 steps.
- Step 5 Tempo and feelMetronome
Set the tempo to 145 BPM, no swing. The usual range for phonk is 130–160 BPM.
Also in the loop: a kick that lands with the 808.
Phonk drum pattern
The drums on their own: one bar of kick, snare and hats at 145 BPM. This is the part people mean by “the phonk beat”.
| Part | Steps, 1 to 16 | Plays on |
|---|---|---|
| Kick | x·········x····· | steps 1 and 11 of 16 |
| Snare | ········x······· | step 9 of 16 |
| Hats | x·x·x·x·x·x·x3x· | steps 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15; a roll of three on 14 of 16 |
x a hit, o a quiet hit, 3 a roll of three inside one step, · nothing. The named patterns: Half-time snare, Triplet hat rolls.
How it fits together
The cowbell is the hook. It is the cowbell from the 808 drum machine, tuned to play a melody: usually a short, syncopated figure in a minor key that repeats every bar or two.
Underneath, phonk is close to trap: a half-time snare, quick hats with rolls and a long 808 that slides. The difference is grit. The 808 is distorted until it growls, and the whole loop sounds dirtier and more aggressive.
The loop in words
- Kick: steps 1 and 11 of 16.
- Snare and clap: step 9 of 16.
- Hats: steps 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15; a roll of three on 14 of 16.
- Bass: 808 octave on step 7 of 16, each held for 4 steps; 808 root on steps 1 and 11 of 16, each held for 6 steps.
- Lead: G5 on step 25 of 32; F5 on step 28 of 32; E5 on steps 7, 23 and 31 of 32, notes held for 1 and 2 steps; D5 on step 9 of 32; C5 on steps 4, 12 and 20 of 32; A4 on steps 1, 15 and 17 of 32.
- Chords: Am, F, C, G, one bar each, in A minor.
- Tempo: 145 BPM, no swing.
Ask an AI for it
Text-to-music tools such as Suno, Udio and Stable Audio respond to the words producers use, so naming the patterns gets you closer than the genre name alone. The loop above is what this description means; press play, mute a track, and drop its words from the description to hear what each one changes.
“phonk, 145 BPM, cowbell melody, 808 cowbell, distorted 808 bass, half-time drums, snare on 3, Memphis rap, drift phonk, dark, aggressive, gritty”
| Say | It means |
|---|---|
| cowbell melody, 808 cowbell | a melody played on a tuned drum-machine cowbell |
| distorted 808 bass | a deep 808 driven until it growls |
| half-time drums, snare on 3 | one snare per bar, so it feels half as fast |
| Memphis rap, drift phonk | the 1990s sound it grew from, and its fast 2020s form |
| dark, aggressive, gritty | the mood, and the dirty, saturated sound |
| 130–160 BPM (feels like 65–80) | the tempo, and how it feels |
Neighbours
Trap
130–150 bpmA half-time snare, rolling hats and a sliding 808
Signature: Half-time snareSame half-time snare and sliding 808. Clean up the 808, swap the cowbell for a bell and slow to 140.
Dubstep
138–142 bpmOne big snare per bar and a bass that wobbles
Signature: Wobble bassSame half-time weight at 140; the cowbell gives way to a bass that wobbles.