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Beatboxing, which many consider the fifth element, is the vocal percussion of hip hop culture. It is primarily concerned with the art of creating beats, rhythms, and melodies using the human mouth, but its modern incantations include a vast array of other aspects as well.
What follows is a comprehensive foray into the art of beatboxing, beginning with the general, and working its way to the specifics histories of important epi-centers of the artform throughout the world. Though born in NY, the fifth element is currently experiencing a second-wind that has carried the artform across the world. The largest, interactive beatboxing community congregates on http//www.humanbeatboxing.com founded in 2002 by UK beatboxer Alex Tew, aka A-Plus. Beatboxers in different areas have used this site, and the internet in general, as a means to meet in person forming important clusters that populate Europe, and certain area of the U.S.
Beatboxing Defined
Beatboxing is the vocal percussion of hip hop culture. It is primarily concerned with the art of creating beats, rhythms, and melodies using the human mouth. However, it can also involve singing, vocal scratching, the imitation of turntable skills, the simulation of horns, strings, and other instruments, and the replication of a vast array of sound effects.
The words "beatboxing," "vocal percussion" and "multivocalism" are sometimes used interchangeably, but originally, and in some ways still are different schools with different influences, and techniques, and rhythmic repertoires.
Vocal percussion is more commonly associated with a cappella groups, whereas 'beatboxing' and 'human beatbox' are terms usually associated with hip-hop or other urban music genres. Multivocalism is a relatively new term, coined by the UK's Killa Kela, to describe the collective use of beatboxing, singing, sound imitation and fundamentally anything vocal used in a musical sense. The boundary between the first two has been blurred, of course, as their practitioners have informed each other, and have become graduates from both schools. Pioneering vocal percussionist, and beatboxer Andrew Chaikin, aka “Kid Beyond,” has discovered a space somewhere between the two that stupifies some of the greatest beatboxers around.
On the streets, beatboxers serve as human beat-machines oftentimes providing the rhythmic backbones on which MCs lay their flows. On stages, many beatboxers have, and still do, serve as human jukeboxes organizing their routines as medleys of well-known songs. As the art form has evolved it has extended its reach to include physical theater routines, and has integrated itself into hip hop (and other forms) of theater. Beatboxers with backgrounds in vocal percussion stand in for drummers, and percussionists in theater ensembles, live bands, and other line-ups. Some even beatbox into instruments such as harmonicas, such as Yuri Lane, panflutes, such as Radioactive, and one Tim Barsky has mastered doing so through a classical flute achieving several simultaneous streams of rhythm, and melody. And at least one Kid Beyond has mastered live-looping, using computers, and triggers to create songs in real-time replete with rhythm tracks, instrumentation, and full choirs of singing.
History of Beatboxing
Beatboxing is hip hop's vocal percussion whose early pioneers include Doug E Fresh, Biz Markie, and Buffy from the Fat Boys. The term 'beatboxing' is derived from the mimicry of the first generation of drum machines, then known as beatboxes.
The Early Eighties
The art form enjoyed a strong presence in the 1980s. Many people's introduction to the artform, and perhaps its first recording, came when Doug E Fresh, and Slick Rick released "La Di Da Di." When the Fat Boys, a name that predates the use of the word 'phat,' and is an acurate depiction of the crew's weight, recorded "Stick Em," the rap community, and beyond celebrated Buffy's heavy-breathing style. Even today, when people make fun of beatboxing, they imitate the deceased Buffy by huffing, and puffing into their hands. Perhaps, the Fat Boys movies which included "The Disorderlies," brought the art form to a wider audience.
The Mid Eighties
Other important bboxers in the mid-'80s who followed the greats like Doug E Fresh included Greg Nice, Ready Rock C from Will Smith's crew, and The Jock Box from the comically named Skinny Boys crew.
The Nineties
In many ways, beatboxing fell off the radar along with breakdancing in the late '80s, and almost slipped even deeper than the underground. Though many people kept the art form alive on the streets, in ciphers, within Bboy circles, and in showers, it didn't emerge until Rahzel "the Godfather of Noyze" released "Make the Music 2000," which is known to be the first album focused primarily on beatboxing. The title is a reference to "Make the Music With Your Mouth" one of the first recorded beatboxing tracks by the hip-hop shenanigan Biz Markie. He flirted with commercial appeal when his video "Just a Friend" appeared on MTV with him donning a 17-Century wig, banging on a grand piano, and whining this chorus loudly: "Girl, you got what I need, but you say he's just a friend, but you say he's just a friend. Oh, Baby, you, you got what I need..."
And in the mid-'90s, Rahzel definitely had what the audiences needed. Not only did he help put beatboxing back onto the stage, he introduced audiences to its modern form, an impressive, if not awe-inspiring combination of polyrhythms, vocal scratching, and simultaneous lines of melody, rhythm, and singing. Rahzel himself acknowledges that he combined his influences of pioneer Doug E Fresh, jazz-singer Bobby McFerrin, and sound-effect master Michael Winslow (of Police Academy fame) to give rise to his modern format.
On "If You're Mother Only Knew," a beatboxing "sample" of the deceased R&B singer Aalliyah, he wows an audience by singing and beatboxing simultaneously, a feat still considered difficult by the beatboxing community. And on several tracks, he introduced the idea of simulating turntable scrathes with his throat, something even underground beatboxers upholding the artform through the lean years hadn't even heard until the albums release.
Using his commercial appeal, he also paved the way for beatboxing's migration to the center of the stage, both actually and metaphorically. In its first hey-day, Bboxing was relegated to the side stage, like a side show. Rahzel, who used to be the vocal DJ for the Roots, the Grammy Award winning, hip hop group from Philedelphia who repopularized live instrumentation in hip hop, began touring the country doing solo shows.
Of course, it is imperative to mention that many bboxers express frustration with Rahzel getting most of the attention, and being known as the best bboxer in the world. It is the opinion of this editor that though many well-practiced amateurs, and professional bboxers possess different levels of skill, each one brings something different to the form, in part because as Carlo Aguirre, aka Infinite, beatboxer, and MC from San Francisco's famed Felonious says, "Each person has a different instrument."
And other well-known, and seminal bboxers whose instrumens are well-known throughout the international beatboxing community include the Bronx's Kenny Muhammad, also known as Kenny X, and The Human Orchestra; Philly's Scratch, beatboxer for the Roots; Killa Kella, one of Europe's finest, and Click Tha Supah Latin, a West Coast MC, and bboxer located in LA.
Major Epi-Centers
New York
Europe
The largest, interactive beatboxing community congregates on http//www.humanbeatboxing.com founded in 2002 by UK beatboxer Alex Tew, aka A-Plus. This site has greatly fuelled the recent resurgence in beatboxing by promoting the art-form using the internet and by organising the first Human Beatbox Convention which took place in April 2003. The central feature of HumanBeatbox.com is the community forums where beatboxers and non-beatboxers alike converge to share their interest in the art-form.
This important resource, based in Europe, has been a nexus for the artform's evolution, and emergence of values like inclusivity, sharing, and cooperation, which for the most part have taken a back seat the fierce Bboy stance that Hip Hop as a whole has assumed.
Beatboxers in different areas have used this site, and the internet in general, as a means to meet in person forming important clusters that populate Europe, and certain area of the U.S.
San Francisco-Bay Area
Catalyzed by Bryan Neuberg aka "Process," Andrew Chaikin aka "Kid Beyond," and Tim Barsky, the Vowel Movement is a collaborative, San Francisco, Bay Area community that supports the art of beatboxing through regular showcases that emphasizes sharing and inclusivity amongst its practitioners, bringing the art form to a diverse audience, and pushing the boundaries beyond the classification of hip hop.
External links
- [1] (http://www.humanbeatbox.com/) Global Beatbox Bulletin Board and Forum
Beatboxers' Sites
- [2] (http://www.humanorchestra.com/) Kenny Muhammad's Site
- [3] (http://www.mcarecords.com/ArtistMain.asp?ArtistId=122) Rahzel's Site
- [4] (http://www.okayplayer.com/scratch/) Scratch's Site
- [5] (http://www.timbarsky.com) Tim Barsky's Site
- [6] (http://www.yurilane.com/home.html) Yuri Lane's Site
Beatboxer Streaming Audio
- [7] (http://216.17.105.144/~hbc/media/doug_e_fresh_slick_rick.mp3) Doug E Fresh with Slick Rick
- [8] (http://216.17.105.144/~hbc/media/rahzel_if_your_mother_only_knew.mp3) Rahzel "the Godfather of Noyze"
- [9] (http://216.17.105.144/~hbc/media/kenny_muhammad_dnb.mp3) Kenny X, D&B
- [10] (http://216.17.105.144/~hbc/media/rahzel_kenny_vs_skribble_slinky.mp3) Rahzel and Kenny vs. DJs Sribble and Slinky
- [11] (http://216.17.105.144/~hbc/media/scratch_freestyle.mp3) Scratch from the Roots
Beatbox Videos
- [12] (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/elementary/front.htm) The indomitable Kenny Muhammad
- [13] (http://www.timbarsky.com/media/quicktimes/FluteBeatbox320.mov) Tim Barsky the Battle Flutist
- [14] (http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/10119) Yuri Lane on the Harp
- [15] (http://www.timbarsky.com/media/quicktimes/BeatboxArt320a.mov) Bryan Neuberg aka "Process" and the Everyday Ensemble
de:Hip Hop (Musik)
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