Boom bap
Boom bap is a hip hop drum pattern: a heavy kick (“boom”) on beat 1 and between the beats, a hard snare (“bap”) on beats 2 and 4, and swung hats, usually between 80 and 95 BPM. It is the sound of 1990s hip hop and the base of lo-fi beats.
Also called boom-bap beat, boombap drums, 90s hip hop beat.
Play it
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Try this
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Add a kick on step 15. It kicks into the next bar; take it out again and hear how the gap breathes.
Hear it without the grid
A short recording of the loop above at 88 BPM, made with Swung’s own sounds.
How it works
Start from a backbeat, then move the second kick off the beat: here the kicks fall on steps 1, 8 and 11 instead of 1 and 9. The snare stays on 2 and 4, so the beat still feels steady while the kick drags and pushes around it.
Swing does the rest. Every second hat arrives a little late, which turns a stiff drum machine into the head-nodding feel the style is named for.
The pattern in words
- Kick: steps 1, 8 and 11 of 16.
- Snare: steps 5 and 13 of 16.
- Hats: steps 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 of 16.
| Part | Steps, 1 to 16 | Plays on |
|---|---|---|
| Kick | x······x··x····· | steps 1, 8 and 11 of 16 |
| Snare | ····x·······x··· | steps 5 and 13 of 16 |
| Hats | x·x·x·x·x·x·x·x· | steps 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 of 16 |
x a hit, o a quiet hit, 2 or 3 a quick roll inside one step, – a note held on, · nothing.
Variations
Dead straight
The same hits with the swing taken out.
Ghost notes on the snare
Quiet snare taps between the loud ones.
A busier kick
One more kick on step 15, into the next bar.
Where it’s used
Also common in 1990s hip hop and Jazz-hop.
Learn this pattern step by step
The course builds up to it from Unit 1, which is free. Sign up with Google and start with the first lesson; it plays in your browser, like this page.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1, then Boom bap comes in Unit 2: Groove.