Techniques similar to beatboxing have been employed in diverse
American musical genres since the 19th century, such as
early rural music, both black and white, religious songs,
blues,
ragtime,
vaudeville, and
hokum. Examples include the
Appalachian technique of
eefing and the blues song
Bye bye bird by
Sonny Boy Williamson II. Additional influences may perhaps include forms of
African traditional music, in which performers
utilize their bodies (e.g., by clapping or stomping) as percussion instruments and produce sounds with their mouths by breathing loudly in and out, a technique used in beatboxing today. Many well-known performers used vocal percussion occasionally, even though this was not directly connected to the cultural tradition that came to be known as beatboxing.
Paul McCartney's "
That Would Be Something" (1970) includes vocal percussion.
Pink Floyd's "
Pow R. Toc H." (1967) also includes vocal percussion performed by the group's original lead vocalist,
Syd Barrett. Jazz singers
Bobby McFerrin and
Al Jarreau were very well known for their vocal styles and techniques, which have had great impact on techniques beatboxers use today.
Michael Jackson was known to record himself beatboxing on a dictation tape recorder as a demo and scratch recording to compose several of his songs, including "
Billie Jean", "
The Girl Is Mine", and others. In contrast, the English progressive rock band
Jethro Tull adopted beatboxing on at least one track on their
2003 Christmas album.
Gert FrΓΆbe, a German actor most widely known for playing
Auric Goldfinger in the
James Bond film
Goldfinger, "beatboxes" as Colonel Manfred von Holstein (simultaneously vocalizing horned and percussive instruments) in
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, a 1965 British comedy film. == Contribution to hip-hop == Modern beatboxing first began as a way to assist or backup the MC. When drum machines were unavailable or unaffordable, communities in the inner city of New York began to mimic the sounds with their voices in ciphers. The term "beatboxing" is derived from the mimicry of early
drum machines, then known as beatboxes, particularly, and specifically, the
Roland TR-808. They were followed by the TR-808, released in 1980, which became central to
hip hop music Swifty, the first to implement the inhale sound technique; Buffy, who helped perfect many beatboxing techniques; and
Wise, who contributed significantly to beat boxing's proliferation. Wise inspired an entire new fan base of human beatboxers with his human turntable technique. Other pioneers of beatboxing include
Rahzel well known for his realistic robotic sounds and for his ability to sing and beatbox simultaneously,
Scratch a beatboxer and musician well known for further revolutionizing the use of vocal scratching in beatboxing, Kenny Muhammad the Human Orchestra, a beatboxer known for his technicality and outstanding rhythmic precision, who pioneered the inward k snare, a beatbox technique that imitates a snare drum by breathing inward, and Emanon, an early protegee of Doug E. Fresh associated with Ice T and
Afrika Islam. Many refer to beatboxing as the unofficial 5th element of hip-hop. == Modern beatboxing ==