BOOM BAP.

First you feel the low beat, then you hear the snare come back. A short piece of music loops again. The rapper needs little to fill the space, because the beat already has a clear attitude.

THE NAME SOUNDS LIKE THE BEAT

Boom bap is a term for a style of hip-hop production in which the kick drum and snare are particularly prominent. The words mimic their sound: the low ‘boom’ and the sharper ‘bap’. The style is strongly associated with New York and East Coast hip-hop from the late eighties and nineties, but its roots lie in earlier hip-hop.

Samples from funk, soul and jazz, among others, often play an important role. A producer can loop a small fragment, combine different pieces or radically change the sound. The beat provides a recognizable foundation for the voice. Boom bap therefore says more about the musical approach than about any single required theme in the lyrics.

HOW THE DRUMS HOLD A TRACK TOGETHER

In much boom bap, you can hear a clear alternation between kick and snare. In between, hi-hats, extra accents and small timing differences create movement. The rhythm can feel tight or somewhat looser. The power lies not only in the volume, but also in where a beat lands.

Many tracks revolve around a mid-tempo, often around 80 to 100 beats per minute. That is not a requirement. Listen instead to how easily the beat makes your head nod along and how much room it leaves for words. A busy arrangement is not necessary to create a powerful groove.

THE SAMPLE BECOMES SOMETHING ELSE

Sampling is more than just playing a well-known song again. A producer can take a few sounds from their original context and give them a different function. A saxophone fragment can become a hook, a single piano note a rhythmic accent. The meaning emerges in the new context.

DJ Premier is an important name for a sparse, sharply defined approach, often with scratched voice fragments. Pete Rock shows how samples and melodic colours can bring a different warmth. Both approaches fit within boom bap. A sample does not have to sound dusty to work well.

THE MC AND THE EMPTY SPACE

The rapper is not separate from the production. A short pause, a word that lands before the snare or a line that crosses the bar line changes the movement. Guru with Gang Starr and Nas on Illmatic give different examples of how a voice can inhabit a beat.

Listen to a verse once without paying attention to every meaning. Hear only the length of the lines, the breathing room and the accents. Then read along with the lyrics. This way, rhythm and story come together without the production being reduced to background.

BOOM BAP, TRAP AND LO-FI

What is the difference between boom bap and trap? Trap is a different hip-hop development, with Southern American roots and often long 808 bass sounds, fast hi-hat patterns and a differently felt rhythmic space. Boom bap generally places more emphasis on the attack of the kick and snare and on sample-based loops. Of course, there are hybrid forms.

Lo-fi describes a sound approach and a broad listening category rather than exactly the same historical style. Lo-fi hip-hop can use boom-bap rhythms, but often chooses a softer, more blurred sound. Conversely, boom bap does not have to be noisy or recorded at a low quality. Modern, clearly produced beats can also speak that language.

MORE THAN A DECADE TO RECREATE

KRS-One made the term extra visible with Return of the Boom Bap in 1993. Yet the approach did not start with that album and did not stop at the end of the nineties. Producers around the world continued to explore the relationship between drums, samples and voice.

This makes ‘old-fashioned’ too limited a description. A new track can use an old technique and still tell something unique. Ask yourself while listening what the producer gets out of the material: is the surprise in the sample choice, the timing, the bass or precisely in a part that has been omitted?

WHERE TO START

Start with Hard to Earn for the direct interaction between Guru and DJ Premier. Midnight Marauders offers a different, melodic entry point. On Illmatic, you hear how multiple producers come together to make room for one recognizable storyteller.

If you are looking for boom bap on vinyl, also pay attention to singles with instrumental versions. Without rap, you can hear how the beat is built independently. Check with albums whether you are buying a full, clean or edited version and which tracklist belongs to the pressing.

Want to listen further? Also discover our guides about hip-hop, rap, funk, jazz.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

• Red Bull Music Academy — In Search of Boom Bap
• Red Bull Music Academy — DJ Premier
• Red Bull Music Academy — Marley Marl
• Library of Congress — Illmatic
• A Tribe Called Quest — Midnight Marauders
• Apple Music — Mecca and the Soul Brother
• Apple Music — Hard to Earn