The Evolution of Boom Bap

To get a drum pattern feeling more like a groove, we really only need to hear two things in order: a low sound, followed by a high sound. On the drums, that translates to kick and snare. This basic kick/snare combination sets the foundation for many styles of drumming, but holds particular significance for the production style known as Boom Bap.

The name “Boom Bap” is onomatopoeia used to reflect the oscillation between a bass drum and snare drum in a hiphop groove. In a basic hiphop beat, the bass drum typically plays on downbeats (boom) and the snare drum plays the backbeats (bap). Boom Bap is an aspect of a lot of hiphop music, but not all hiphop music uses Boom Bap production. Boom Bap is identifiable by extremely minimal instrumentation, often just a kick sample and a snare sample programmed in a drum machine (like the Akai MPC 3000 pictured below), and flowing lyrics rapped over the beat. But before diving too far into the development of Boom Bap as a style, we should trace the development of playing backbeats on the snare.

The Birth of the Backbeat

Playing the snare on beats 2 and 4 is so common among so many different forms of popular music that drummers sometimes take it for granted. But accenting the backbeats, the way we hear in most hiphop music, didn’t become more universal until the development of jazz. If we study a basic swing pattern, the feel is driven entirely by the ride cymbal and hihats. While playing that classic spang-a-lang pattern on the ride cymbal, the hihats close sharply on beats 2 and 4, creating an articulate “chick” sound on the backbeats.

As swing drumming evolved to meet the needs of Doo-wop and early rock music, the kick and snare gradually took on more of a leading role to give the drums more of a driving feel, and to sonically compete with amplified instruments. These early forms of backbeat drumming largely gravitated toward an underlying swing feel so most grooves felt much more similar to jazz rhythms instead of the straight-feel patterns we associate with rock today. For example, the drum groove in Elvis Presley’s 1956 release, “Hound Dog” (below), is a straight ahead swing pattern, but with the addition of playing the kick on beats 1 and 3, and hitting the snare on beats 2 and 4. By the end of the 1950s, it became much more common to hear straight 8th notes played on a cymbal, as opposed to a swing or shuffle rhythm.

A New Way to Groove

As drum set playing continued to evolve, soul and funk splintered off into a more rhythmically-driven feel, further bringing the drums to the forefront of an ensemble. Throughout the 1960s, the formation of funk brought about significant changes to how grooves were developed. Lots of old school funk tunes are built on straight time divisions (straight 8th notes as opposed to a swung/triplet feel) and are a slower tempo than early rock music, allowing musicians to play more with 16th notes and rhythmic syncopations. Take James Browns’ “Funky Drummer,” for example. The tune features a hypnotic syncopated groove, which was widely sampled in breakbeat and hiphop. The feel of funk comes entirely from repetitive grooves created by the bass and the drums, frequently with no discernible melody. These rhythmic forms paved the way to early hiphop beats in the late 1970s and the first Boom Bap beats in the 1980s.

In the 1980s

Boom Bap spun out from early hiphop and began taking form in the boroughs of New York City in the early 1980s, but the style wasn’t really known widely as Boom Bap until the 90s. Some of the most prominent Boom Bap producers include KRS-One, Pete Rock, DJ Premiere, Marley Marl, and J Dilla. Primarily featured on underground mixtapes played at parties, Boom Bap is characterized by raw, heavy drum samples, rapping, and minimal, if any, additional instrumentation. Beats are rarely accompanied by a melody or bass line. Drum patterns sometimes feature only a kick sample and snare sample with no cymbal pattern present. The listener’s focus is intended to be entirely on the drums and the lyrics, which commonly featured boasting or trash talking other rappers.

An early example of a Boom Bap beat can be heard in Run-DMCs’s 1984 release “Sucker M.C.’s” (below left) The song features only minimal programmed drums, occasional record scratches, and near-constant rapping with no melody or bass line. The minimalism and harsh drum sounds are intended to reflect the environment of the inner city. Another earlier example of a Boom Bap track is MC Shan’s 1986 release “Beat Biter” (below right), which was produced by Marley Marl.

In the 1990s

The use of the term Boom Bap was popularized by KRS-One’s 1993 release “Return of the Boom Bap” (below left). As the name implies, the track is a full-on Boom Bap groove, with super gritty drums, almost no bass, and sparse atmospheric samples. The 90s also brought about more samples of jazz, funk, and soul drumming, taking a bit of the edge off the harsh synthesized drum sounds and adding more of a human feel to grooves. Cymbals, bass lines, and some additional sound samples started becoming more common, but beats still largely retained a minimalist, lo-fi vibe. Many tracks by A Tribe Called Quest feature Boom Bap beats, including their 1991 release “Scenario” (below right).

While Boom Bap’s popularity peaked in the 90s and has since faded, its influence remains prominent, even in some modern hiphop music. From a practice standpoint, playing along with Boom Bap beats is an excellent way to improve and develop time and feel. Since they’re composed on a drum computer, it’s like playing along to a far more musical metronome. Below is a compilation of over 3 hours of J Dilla’s beats, entirely instrumental and minimalist. Start from the beginning and lose yourself in the groove, or skip around to get a sample of the numerous beats.