I think I originally got into beatboxing from Bigman’s original song Confused, which (as I hope you agree after you watch the video ahem) was composed of sounds so much richer than I ever imagined could be produced out of a person’s mouth. After that, the deeper into beatboxing I got, the more I realized that it’s been developed into an art and a community has sprung up around it.

Every year, fans from around the world gather at Grand Beatbox Battle to listen to the world’s top professionals perform, e.g. here is a compilation from 2021. There are long-time greats such as D-low and Codfish, plus newer stars like King Inertia and River. They compete in a variety of formats, including solo, tag-team, and loopstation. My personal favorite for a while was loopstation, though I think the standard style of beatboxing is much more established and the amount of skill there is ridiculous.

Some of my personal favorite beatboxers have been Show-Go, Gene Shinozaki, and Helium. Among loopstation performers, there’s also So-So, Saro, and Inkie. Each has an incredibly unique style that I won’t elaborate on too much, since there’s no point in listening to me ramble about this anyway (just give them a listen yourself).

Before I conclude, it’s worth highlighting some of the more unbelievable sounds that people have figured out how to produce. Stitch’s performance for the 2021 GBB Solo Wildcard took the community by storm with his polyphonic voice (first appears around 0:38). I think it’s similar to overtone singing, but I’m not sure. I haven’t been able to replicate the sound myself. Inkie’s performance at the GBB 2018 loopstation quarterfinals was also quite unprecedented.

Further reading:

  • The Beatbox Wiki – I’m not really familiar with it, so I give no guarantees
  • Any live recording from past GBBs
  • Helium has a nice beginner beats tutorial

Here are some more of my personal favorite performances worth shouting out: