Boom Bap
The classic. Two kicks setting up each backbeat, eighth-note hats, and a snare that lands hard on 2 and 4.
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Hi-hat
Snare
Kick
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Hip Hop Drum Patterns
Boom bap and modern hip hop patterns — the grooves that a sampler and an MPC turned into a genre.
2 patterns 80–100 BPM Free MIDI
Drum kit
Real recorded kits, not synthesised. Loads on first play.
Laid-Back Groove
Sparser kick, ghost notes on the snare and an open hat lifting into the second half. Apply 55% swing for the full effect.
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Open hat
Hi-hat
Snare
Kick
Made with Drumloop AI — describe a beat and hear it in seconds.
Generate drum loops with Drumloop AIHow to play these hip hop patterns
- Press play to hear the pattern, and follow the moving column on the grid to see where each hit lands.
- Slow the tempo down until you can play along comfortably, then raise it a few BPM at a time.
- Filled cells are full-volume hits and dim cells are ghost notes — play them much quieter, they matter more than they look.
- Download the MIDI to open the pattern in your DAW, or generate an original variation with AI.
How hip hop drum programming works
Hip hop drums descend from funk breaks, and the basic anatomy is the same: a heavy kick, a cracking snare on the backbeat, and hats filling the space. What changed was the production. Because patterns were programmed on samplers rather than played, hip hop developed a relationship with the grid that live drumming does not have — a producer can place a hit three milliseconds late deliberately and leave it there for four minutes.
That is where swing comes in. An MPC applies swing by delaying every second sixteenth note by a set percentage, and the classic boom bap feel comes from around 54–58% swing. Straight sixteenths sound stiff; too much swing sounds like a shuffle. The patterns here are written straight so you can hear the skeleton, then apply swing in your DAW.
The other hallmark is the kick pattern. Rock keeps the kick on 1 and 3; hip hop scatters it, often with two kicks close together before the backbeat. Tempo sits at 85–95 BPM for boom bap and creeps toward 100 for more modern material. Play these against the metronome at 90 BPM and browse the free hip hop loop library for recorded examples.
Hip hop tempo and feel
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Typical tempo range | 80–100 BPM |
| Centre of gravity | 90 BPM |
| Character | Boom bap sits at the low end; modern rap creeps toward 100. |
| Practise with | 90 BPM metronome |
| Loops at this tempo | 90 BPM drum loops |
Frequently asked questions
What is boom bap?
The dominant hip hop drum style of the late 80s and 90s: a heavy, slightly distorted kick ("boom") and a hard snare on the backbeat ("bap"), usually sampled from funk records and programmed on an MPC at 85–95 BPM with swing applied to the sixteenth notes.
How much swing should I use on hip hop drums?
Between 54% and 58% is the classic MPC range. At 50% the sixteenths are perfectly even and the groove feels stiff; past 60% it starts sounding like a triplet shuffle. Small changes matter a lot here — try moving in one-percent steps.
What tempo is hip hop?
Boom bap sits at 85–95 BPM and modern rap creeps toward 100. Trap is written at 130–150 but felt at half that. Use the tap tempo tool to check any reference track you are working from.
Where can I get hip hop drum loops?
The free hip hop drum loop library has royalty-free recorded loops you can use straight away. Drumloop AI will also generate an original hip hop loop at any tempo from a text description.
More free music tools
Need an original hip hop groove?
Describe the beat you want and Drumloop AI generates it — original, royalty-free hip hop drums at any tempo.