Sup, I'm justabeatboxanalyst and welcome to my blog. I mostly post essays but I also post videos of cool beatboxing/beatboxers, so here's a table of contents of sorts if you want to go straight to a certain post.
Note: The posts labeled "Ghost Video" are reposted videos (with permission) from Ghost, a well respected American beatbox community member.
What Beatbox Events Are Happening:
2026 US & Canada Events
Essays:
Hello World (Who I am)
What does good beatboxing sound like?
What does good beatboxing sound like? Part 2 (With examples!)
What Makes A Beatboxer Unique?
What Makes A Beatboxer Unique? Part 2
A Lesson in Epidemiology: The Beatbox Flu
On Wing's GBB26 Wildcard Judge Review
Beatbox Videos to Watch:
Some (but not all) really cool beatboxers in the US
Underrated American Beatboxers (Ghost Video)
USA Beatbox Champs 2025 Elimination Rounds
Misc Posts:
Is French Beatbox Bias Real? (Ghost Video)
I put effort into this, therefore it counts as an effortpost. I will figure out nicer looking formatting down the line but this should work for now.
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hello beatbox person ! i recently found a comment under a korn track calling the noises davis makes beatbox and now i wonder whether it counts as it in your opinion or not (for examples of the noises see twist, freak on a leash, good god has some im p sure. i think you know what im talking about but just in case) like it doesnt sound like a stereotypical beatbox for me but like it sure isnt singing?
So I've been thinking about this quite a bit to the point that later down the line I might write an essay about it. I'm not too familiar with Korn so I had to specifically listen to the examples you put. Modern beatboxing can't really be reduced to only drum sounds, as there are vocal sounds and many sounds that can be pitched or serve as sound effects (think a water drop sound). That being said, there is a rich history of many other forms of vocal art/music. For example, there's scat-singing, throat singing, rapping, etc. I'm not an expert on any of these, but I know beatboxing often draws upon techniques from these other artforms. For the case of Korn, Davis is making a lot of rhythmic gibberish sounds that probably could be called scat-singing? But if you want to call it beatboxing, I don't particularly mind either.
Ok I almost certainly won't be able to get an essay or anything out this weekend, things are super busy for me. Odds are I'll be talking about the Dopamine Album when I get the time to do it though.
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At this point the Tumblr algorithm is putting every post with the word "beatbox" or "beatboxing" in my For You page whether or not it has the relevant tags and I realize that me becoming the beatboxing Boogeyman is destiny. Whenever someone mentions it I will be there I guess. Beware.
Also Wing album out and it's so peak. Might write something short about it if people want but the main takeaway is it's just really good, you can listen here on spotify, and here on youtube
Bonus minipost, there's going to be a beatbox event in Phoenix, Arizona on October 3rd! More info will be posted on the Arizona Beatbox Instagram account here as the event date approaches. I also will update my 2026 US & CA events page accordingly
I really enjoyed your "What does good beatbox sound like?" essays! I learned quite a bit.
I'm curious about your take on WING's explanation for his personal judging for the GBB26 Solo Wildcard. I'm also curious what you think of his detailed review.
https://youtu.be/XKkYLmyT0Pk
Given the subjectivity in judging you so clearly describe, is this a maverick approach to judging beatbox? Something newly articulated by such a high-profile artist? Or has someone explained this approach before?
I would love to read your thoughts!
I hope all is going well for you!!
Thanks for the question!
I did see Wingâs video when it came out and thereâs a lot of insights to be made about the information he reveals (for example, about Swissbeatboxâs judging rules), his analyses, and the opinions he expresses through the video.Â
For those who donât know, the Grand Beatbox Battle (GBB) is the most prestigious beatbox battle in the world. Every year, some competitorsâ spots are earned through the wildcard system, where an aspirant can submit a video that is ranked by a number of judges. If youâre in the top handful of spots, you can then compete in GBB. Wing, a decorated battler, viral music sensation, and the vice champion of GBB 2025, ended up being one of the judges of the 2026 wildcard season.Â
While the scene as a whole has been moving towards more judge transparency and explanations behind judging decisions, Wing made a rather novel decision to make a video explaining his philosophy on beatboxing and how it guided his decision making process.Â
To summarize the video,Â
He explained how he was given the choice between using Swissbeatboxâs (the organization behind GBB) judging criteria or his own personal one
He went into his personal criteria and how itâs centered on musicality - âtechnicality ultimately exists beneath musicalityâ and that art must convey emotions, thoughts, or ideas to their audience
He went into examples of this in music and how he thinks they express musicality
Hans Zimmerâs âFirst Stepâ from Interstellar and how it expresses the vastness of space
The Weekndâs âThe Hillsâ + a remix of âThe Hillsâ
He established the point that there are certain kinds of music that are pure showcases of technicality and he will still judge them as such- which was foreshadowing for Footboxg
He noted that he felt safer to showcase his unique judging perspective since SBX took the mean of the median 3 judge scores for the final ranking
He made judgments based on how a track would be received if it were on a big stage like Coachella or something - but also how might it be received by great musicians- his examples were Beethoven, Hans Zimmer, Daft Punk, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Michael Jackson, and Queen
He judged more strictly when something went against his personal values
He then jumped into reacting to/analyzing the wildcard winners and then why he placed them where he did
Not gonna go too deep into each analysis of the wildcards but I want to say I feel vindicated in his H-Has analysis where he talked about pitching and melodic techniques falling under technicality. Iâve had this same opinion for quite a while now, and to be honest, his framework of technicality folded into musicality is a fascinating way of viewing it. Generally most of his comments for each wildcard are objective observations with his own subjective comments (for example, heâll say âthis was not pleasant to my earsâ).
Now, to actually get to your question, his judging approach is a mix of a new maverick approach and something thatâs kinda already existed but is only now being articulated. It is the product of something thatâs been discussed and debated about in the beatboxing scene for a long time now, specifically the relationship between musicality and technicality in beatboxing. If you want a refresher on these two concepts, this essay and this essay both talk about them. Historically, Iâve seen a lot of people use musicality as an empty word to describe any beatboxing with a melody, but this fails to capture phenomena such as there being various kinds of melodic styles, the existence of melodic techniques that I mentioned above, and song structure in absence of melody. As the scene has advanced, however, I see more people including the idea of intentionality within musicality- with intentionality being taking an idea and expressing it with your beatboxing.Â
Intentionality also sums up Wingâs judging approach. He literally defines musicality as the ability to convey emotions, thoughts, or ideas. To support this, his main criticisms of the wildcard winners were where he either disagreed with the idea/intention of a piece, or saw a lack of intention (when a choice was made arbitrarily). Notably, he was particularly harsh on G-Wizz and ABX for these reasons. The reason that this is also a maverick/new approach is that nobodyâs judged so boldly (or at least so publicly) in favor of intentionality, especially not for such a high level event as GBB wildcards (which is lowkey also somewhat opaque in its judging process, so thereâs no way to know if itâs been done before).
I do actually have a lot of thoughts about this approach. Intentionality is one thing that I think is really good for the beatbox scene- and I would say itâs an underrated skill for beginner/intermediate beatboxers to have. Iâve seen many a Jam 1 (the main group jam for the Beatbox Community Discord server) where people spam whatever sounds are popular or sometimes even just copy famous beatboxers with no real direction or idea of what they want to do. On the flip side, Iâve seen several people with limited soundkits and techniques go very far in competitions because of their use of intentionality. There are also many people who are technically gifted who once lacked intentionality that suddenly skyrocket in success the moment they start to express it. I really respect Wing for believing in it so strongly to the point of imposing that vision onto the vetting process for the most venerated and prestigious battle in beatboxing. I genuinely think that Wing sees intentionality and beatboxing as songs/music to present to the world as the future of the scene.
The thing is, that vision of his is actually something I have a problem with. Let me explain. Beatboxing has its roots in hip-hop. The origins of the artform as it looks like today is from rappers freestyling on top of beatboxing, which quickly changed into beatboxers themselves freestyling with/against each other. This speaks to another aspect of beatboxing that I would argue is extremely important- spontaneity. Honestly, I might do a whole separate essay on the relationship between spontaneity and intentionality, because thereâs a lot to the strengths and weaknesses of each that could be talked about. However, I want to highlight that beatboxing as an artform is of live performance- even if itâs cool to watch recordings, at one point it had to have been performed live from the mouth of a human being. Part of being a live performer is being able to capture the moment, and this is doubly important in a battle context where you have to both share with and capture the moment from your opponent. Wing himself actually won one of the most impactful battles in recent history by doing exactly this. In the battle, his opponent Blackroll declared that âI control all the roomâ. Wing countered with his famous song Dopamine, and simply said âcontrolâ as if to say âhereâs what real crowd control looks likeâ. All that to say, spontaneity is a core part of beatboxing that should not be removed.
Dopamine went viral at the end of 2024, and Wing has since become a celebrity in Korea. Heâs been on national television, opened for K-pop megastar G-Dragon, and is now preparing to release a new (presumably beatbox only) album to the world. Now, if youâve watched Wingâs appearances on Korean television, talk shows, etc, youâve probably seen him perform Dopamine or perhaps Sailor (with fellow beatboxer Hiss). In each one of these performances, theyâre done in almost the exact same way. Thereâs no excitement of something new, thereâs no moment to capture, itâs a preplanned and prepared song to be played over and over again to hopefully reach newer and newer audiences. I do want to point out that this is actually very technically impressive, because it takes a certain amount of practice and talent to be able to replicate a performance to the smallest detail with no mistakes. That being said, having a solidified single version of a song to be done the same over and over means that any changes arenât opportunities, but mistakes. Even when he did Dopamine in GBB25 against Blackroll, he actually switches keys by accident at 4:33 in the video (if you check his breakout performance of it a year earlier, heâs actually supposed to do his liproll bass an octave or two below the note he opens the song with, which is an F). This is to the point where even he got sick of doing the same performance over and over again. In his judge showcase for the Korean Beatbox Championship last year, he faked out the audience by beginning Dopamine and then stopped, saying âIâve decided that Iâm not going to do Dopamine today. Do you know how many times over the last half a year Iâve had to do it?âÂ
Wingâs in the K-pop world now, and while Iâm admittedly biased against K-pop and pop music in general, I do think there are genuine criticisms of it that are true. I think the criticism that pop and K-pop can feel manufactured to be as inoffensive as possible does hold some weight. You can see it when he notes something is unpleasant to his ear, or when he says that he considers how each wildcard might be received at Coachella or by great musicians (that are still outsiders to the scene). You can see it in the implication that he wants something less spontaneous and more refined to present to the world, the implication that heâs ashamed of showing off G-Wizz or ABX. If I remember correctly, Wing has said he aspires to win a Grammy for beatboxing, and one can see how G-Wizz and ABX donât necessarily fit into the category of Grammy winning music. I think Wingâs expectations and vision for beatboxing is coming from that K-pop world, where itâs overly formalized, perfectionist, and lacks room for human error (and the innovation resulting from it). And when thereâs no room for human error, thereâs no room for human beatboxing. I think if the scene moves towards this vision with no room for its underground hip-hop roots, it could destroy the foundation itâs been built on.
I am being overly harsh and kind of dramatic about potential consequences. In reality, formalizing beatboxing would see more opportunities for people like me and the people around me, giving both valuable experience and also real money. For one, Iâm someone who does genuinely believe that work (including creating art) deserves proper compensation. Another thing is it might paradoxically make it easier and harder to start beatboxing, as there will be more resources for beginners but it will stymie people who try to approach beatboxing from a non formalized angle. By shrinking what sounds and techniques are considered palatable and usable, the artform will see people striving less to be themselves and more to be some palatable ideal beatboxer. It will move the scene towards amazing art in the form of concerts and music videos, but also away from battles, freestyling, and jamming. Itâs a mixed bag, and despite my gripes there is real, powerful good that it can bring to the scene. I should also point out the fact that Wing cannot directly control every event and every beatboxer around the globe, so multiple visions of beatboxing can exist at the same time.
I want to note that a lot of my arguments here originate directly from some other beatboxers and/or are inspired by personal conversations Iâve had with them. Iâm going to keep our conversation private, but Ghost has publicly said that he mostly agreed with Wingâs analysis while slightly disagreeing about ABX and Marvelous (I personally would throw in G-Wizz in there too, I liked his alien theme). Sonus, the beatboxer who translated the video to English for Wing, has also publicly stated that âI personally disagree with a lot of what Wing said in the video as much as I agree with his perspective on musicalityâ, and âThere's gotta be beatboxers that go full âweird / outside the boxâ for the progress of the artform in general in my opinionâ. Some other beatboxers I spoke with have hinted at having similar opinions. Despite the dissenting voices, these are just opinions, and thereâs no hate for Wing from anyone of us. Sonus himself has said he did the translation because Wing is his friend rather than some kind of coworker.
You just got a lot of criticism from me, but I have nothing but respect for Wing. His ambition and vision for beatboxing is something that I can at least sympathize with if not empathize with. His video on this has actually made me respect and appreciate him and the role he plays in the scene even more. On a more personal note, he has inspired and influenced me in my own beatboxing journey quite a lot, and Iâve been a fan since I discovered his GBB 2018 wildcard at the end of 2017 (Iâve been yelling about him being robbed 8 years before GBB 25, ha!). Please go support him and listen to his new album Dopamine when it comes out before the end of the month (yes, the album is named after the song).Â
Late post from me again. I started this on Thursday afternoon but I wasnât locked in enough Friday night to finish it on time. Itâs done now though, and Iâd like to think that this oneâs an interesting writeup. Lifeâs been pretty busy and I havenât had the energy or motivation to write on this, but I want to start writing essays here again at least semi-regularly. At the very least I might try to shitpost a bit more often. Isilweth, thank you so much for the question and for deciding to take a peek at the niche that is beatboxing that I hold so much love for. I can only hope you and anyone else who decides to stop by my little blog falls in love with it too.
Source: Eddie Flanigan Photography & Long Island Beatbox
A little less than two weeks ago Eulacio (shown on the left) won the New York Beatbox Championships! He's a talented beatboxer, incredible performer, and genuinely wonderful person who wants to bring out the best in the people around him!
This was the third edition of the New York Beatbox Championships, with the first and second being in 2023 and 2025. While the previous years had more established names battle, the younger and fresher talent of this year didn't make it any less competitive. The videos are already out, so you can check them out in the link below:
On an unrelated note, I've been radio silent for almost 2 months now. In that time, I've lived a lot of life and been either too busy or too tired to write here. However, at the beginning of the week I received a question in my inbox (also my first inbox question I'm excited heehee), so I'm writing up my next essay as my answer to it since it's a really good question (shoutout @isilweth) and I'm hoping to get it out on Friday.
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"Friday effortpost incoming" and then I go radio silent for another two weeks. And that's because I kept procrastinating it lmao. This is unfortunately not an effortpost, just a notice. I'm going on a weekend trip (I'm literally on the way right now), so it is unlikely another essay will be out until maybe next week. Maybe you'll see something Sunday night, but no promises.
Sorry for no effortpost last Friday, it was in the works and then I got stupid busy the entire weekend. Managed to finish a good chunk of it though so I'll release it this Friday.
In the meantime, the first video from the 2025 USA Beatbox Championships is out now!
I'm super proud of the US community and think this is a great showing of the talent we have. No two performances here sound the same, and it goes to show not only how many possibilities there are in creating things with just the human voice, but also how we promote diversity and originality. If you have some spare time and want to listen to a medley of unique music that you can't find anywhere else, it's a great watch.
While I'm at it, Venoa, who I also showed off in this post became the Ohio Open Champion about two weeks ago! The Ohio Open was not the state championship, but instead open to anyone and everyone. Other notable participants included:
Clutch, the 2025 Crossroads Champion
Waferboi, the 2025 Hawaiian Champion
Malooch, the 2025 Ohio Champion
Jaylip, the 2023 New York Champion
Xepher, the 2025 New York Champion
Chris K, the 2025 West Coast Vice Champion
Eulacio, the 2025 Arena Champion
Might make another post about it when the videos come out.
Some (but not all) really cool beatboxers in the US
So @disembodiedvoicecrossover said they wanted to hear my beatboxing, so I'll paraphrase what I said in my reply here: I want this account to be representative of the beatboxing scene, a place to show off the world of beatboxing and this beautiful artform Iâve fallen in love with. Perhaps in another universe where beatboxing is big on Tumblr I would have made a blog to post my own personal art but alas it isn't so. Also I do like the idea of creating a little mystery around my identity and then as people slowly figure it out maybe having it become an open secret over time.Â
I do feel a bit bad to leave them hanging like that however, so I figured I can instead show off some examples of beatboxing that I really like from the American scene. I wonât say if Iâm one of them or who I am but I really hope you enjoy them all as much as I do. While sometimes beatboxers do covers of songs, the ones below are all original. I would also *heavily* recommend listening to them all with headphones.
Without further ado, here are four American beatbox performances I think you (yes you!) should watch!
Tomorrow, by Doobsama
In live beatbox tournaments before the head to head battles, often there are these things called elimination rounds, where a bunch of beatboxers do brief (traditionally 90 second) performances that are then ranked by the judges. Depending on the event, either the top 8 or top 16 enter, and then tournament brackets are created by pitting the 1st ranking elimination against the 8th (or 16th), the 2nd against the 7th (or 15th), and so on and so forth.Â
The 2024 USA Beatbox Championships was a top 16 battle, and this performance by Doobsama was ranked 8th, putting him up against Kingdom in 9th. Regardless of the ranking, this was one of the standout moments of the night. Doob constructs these incredible arpeggios using various vocal techniques that are both technically impressive and pleasing to the ear. On top of that, he structures his music in a way to make a coherent piece that never feels stale. Tomorrow is such an ear-worm and I personally keep coming back to watch it every now and then and it still hasnât gotten old.
Shadows By My Stride, by Venoa
Some events don't have the bandwidth to have open eliminations where anyone can walk in on the day of an event and attempt to make it into the top 8 or 16. In cases like these, the chance to do an elimination is only given to certain people who are qualified through various means. The most common way to qualify, however, is the wildcard video. Anyone can submit a video by a certain deadline before the actual in-person event as long as it follows the rules, and then a set of judges rank them. The best submissions are allowed to actually do an elimination round during the event. This is useful because it guarantees that certain people have a chance to perform and it gives them time to prepare for the event when they learn they qualify (or change plans if they learn they donât). This was Venoaâs wildcard entry to the 2025 West Coast Beatbox Championships and it ranked 3rd out of 46 video entries, earning him a spot in the competition.
Venoa has a deceptively delicate style for how aggressive his performances can be. He has hard hitting mid-low end sounds, and his fast drum patterns sound explosive on any sound system. His lyrics have a certain braggadocio (âBitch Iâm on top 2nd place by a long shotâ) that add to that aggressive energy (sometimes hip hop is just like that, Venoaâs actually the opposite of an arrogant person so I donât want people to have any misconceptions that he is). And yet when he wants you to hear his intricate details, you hear them. His impressively high frequency whistles that accompany some of his kicks without being painfully piercing. His amazing open hi hat stutter that I personally canât get enough of. Itâs definitely more drum heavy and less melodic than Doobsama but it's not any less representative of beatboxing.
9 to 5 Biz, by Xepher
What I want to highlight is specifically Xepherâs second round from 3:35 to 5:15, but feel free to watch the whole thing if youâd like.Â
Because the US is such a large country, for some events where many people have to travel, beatboxers will book a large Airbnb to stay for the weekend of the event. This brought about the tradition of the bnb 9v9, a small battle for fun that runs parallel to the main event. Two team captains are picked, and each draft beatboxers to join their team. The captains then send out their team members to face each other in 9 head to head battles. The team with the most wins (or judge votes) wins overall, but thereâs nothing real at stake and less pressure since itâs just for fun. People generally give their best performances when not inhibited by their nerves, so some 9v9 battles can be more fun to watch than the main event! This video was from the bnb battle for the 2022 American Beatbox Championships.Â
I love listening to Xepher because he knows how to keep his music fresh. Heâll construct a tone/texture thatâs nice to listen to and then creates variation upon variation with that texture to keep it interesting (see the part where he says âswitch it upâ and someone in the crowd says âoh my goodness!â). In that âswitch it upâ section, he uses a sound called âfart bassâ (yeah haha funny name not the point). While fart bass as a sound is not unique to Xepher, the way he stutters and rolls it on top of pitching it is super original and creative. He also has this energy as a performer thatâs sometimes cheeky and sometimes bombastic, which makes it generally entertaining to watch him as a battler.
Clean Slate, by Catching Moths
Online beatbox battles have been a thing for a long time (and I can elaborate in a later post) but during and after the pandemic, a new format of battle emerged where two competitors would asynchronously post their rounds against each other. This brought about new opportunities to play with visuals and cinematic techniques to add to the entertainment, the ability to pick the perfect take instead of having to perform perfectly with only one chance, and in some competitions it meant being allowed to actually master rounds to fully capture the frequencies a competitor wants to highlight in their music. This was Catching Mothsâs round against French Beatboxer TRC in the semi finals of the 2025 Beatbox Paradise Championships, one such asynchronous online battle.
What can I even say about this song? With a funky but earnest melody over a steady beat, Catching Moths tells a beautiful story with frankly gorgeous lyrics. Iâm not the most poetic person, so Iâm really not doing it justice. The level of artistry and genuine self expression in the piece brings out something in me that makes me want to cry despite being a cis male whose ingrained instinct is to never shed a single tear. On a more technical note, she pitches her unique âelephant soundâ and uses other lip oscillations to create harmonies and layered textures that all add to her melody and song structure. It can be deceptively easy to fall into the trap of doing too much in an attempt to show off but she doesn't by playing with space and tasteful simplicity!
Hope you guys enjoyed my first real in depth post! I didnât forget the poll btw. It seems like there was a clear majority for âWhat does good beatboxing sound like?â, so Iâll be working on that and itâll come out either on or before the 16th. While this post was of videos that I subjectively enjoy, you can expect me to dive deeper into the more objective aspects of what makes beatboxing good (and then tell you that what you subjectively enjoy is more important anyways).
I am super proud of this post and to some extent this poll is a ploy to get more notes but also I'm genuinely curious about what the people want to hear.
Catching Moths just became the California Beatbox Champion last night!!!! She's such an insanely creative and talented beatboxer and I'm super happy for her!
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Disclaimer: Iâm not an epidemiologist, nor did I study it. I just have passing knowledge of the subject. Please do correct me when I inevitably get something wrong.
So Iâm fucking sick. Over the past twelve months I have been sick with some sort of respiratory illness 5 separate times. On average I tend to stay sick for about a week but one of those stints lasted a whole month, meaning Iâve spent about two months of the past twelve coughing and sneezing. Iâm fucking sick. And Iâm sick of being sick.
Remember 2020 and the lockdown era? I want to call back to a concept that was somewhat discussed by the news and science communicators back then, specifically superspreaders and superspreader events. Under the framework of social network epidemiology, a superspreader is (roughly) an individual who spreads an infectious disease to far more people than the average spreader. This kinda makes sense. Many people interact with roughly the same set of people every day. The same coworkers and boss, the same friend group, the same household/family, the same classmates, etc. But some people have many different interactions with many different kinds of people. If youâre not someone thatâs well connected, you probably know someone that is. And if you donât know someone that is, then you definitely know someone who knows someone else that is. Even people who arenât social butterflies or people who donât have many friends can be surprisingly well connected.Â
What makes people particularly susceptible to receiving/catching a disease is being connected to different groups of people. If you know a lot of people, but everyone is in the same friend group, then thatâs not actually that bad for the purposes of spreading disease. Letâs say you get sick, and also get your friends A and B who are in the same friend group sick. In an alternate scenario where you only got friend A sick, because they also know friend B they will likely get friend B sick anyways. A superspreader however, will receive disease from and give to groups that would otherwise never interact. Someone might only have two friends but if those two are from different friend groups, then that one person has the potential to spread a sickness from friend group A to B, infecting potentially tens of people who could spread it to ten more people each and so on.Â
A superspreader event can create a perfect storm of conditions that allow its attendees to become superspreaders. Things such as having many people in confined spaces or having lots of different people come in close contact with each other can contribute to the creation of an event. Notable examples include:
- A business conference in Boston in late February 2020, where it was found that 300,000 Covid-19 cases (and about 1.6% of all US cases) could be traced back to the conference
- A doctor who contracted SARS in 2003 before traveling to a family wedding in a hotel Hong Kong, infecting at least 16 other hotel guests who then brought it to Singapore, Canada, Taiwan, and Vietnam
- Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary), a cook in early 20th century New York City. She was thought to be an asymptomatic carrier of Typhoid fever, and through the food she served infected up to 57 people with the bacteria
Superspreader events often end up happening because of an unfortunate set of coincidences, where two people randomly making contact and spreading sickness can have spiraling consequences. Now imagine some kind of fucked up scenario where instead of leaving it to random chance, you specifically tried to maximize the chance of spreading (airborne) infectious diseases. I wonder what that would look like?
It was about time I got back to talking about beatboxing.Â
If itâs not obvious, my point is that beatbox events are unfortunately amazing at being superspreader events. I think itâs self explanatory that the hobby that results in the most physical spit and breath flying out of peopleâs mouths would spread the flu and the cold and other respiratory diseases a lot. Coming home sick from an event is a regular occurrence, and we've dubbed the phenomenon "the beatbox flu". However, I want to dive a little deeper on specific mechanisms that I believe contribute to the superspreader nature of beatbox events and then muse on potential solutions.Â
The Journey:
Beatboxing can be a niche hobby, so the number of beatboxers who like going to events in a given city can be quite small. This means that for battles, shows, festivals and such, many beatboxers come in from outside the local area. Oftentimes they come from the same region (for example MA -> NY or London -> Bristol), but people can come in from far away, sometimes even from other countries. For example, in the 2025 West Coast Beatbox Championship, only 4 out of the 12 competitors were actually from the west coast of the United States. Even in national championships, there have been instances of people from other countries competing. The 2012 American beatbox champion was Rizumik, a Portuguese citizen, and due to a strange set of circumstances the current equivalent to the Japanese champion is PACMax, who is a French man living in France.[1]
The logistics of traveling means that youâre going to be taking a car, train, airplane, or even a boat for a long period of time. And being crammed into a small enclosed space with other people for a long time will obviously increase the odds of getting others sick. For trains and plane rides with transfers through large hubs (large train terminals and/or airports) it only increases the odds of superspreading, as you might infect x number of people who then go on to cause outbreaks in x different countries. Of course, this applies on the trip back home from an event as well.
1. There has been no Japanese national beatbox championship since 2021, the closest event they have to it right now is BeatCity Japan, which is open to anyone in the world.
The Stay:
Even if an event isnât multiple days/nights, it can be exhausting to travel multiple hours to get to an event and then immediately take off to travel a number of hours again to go home, especially in the dead of night. Event goers can book a hotel or equivalent, stay with a group in a homestay or something similar, or if theyâre lucky, stay with family or a friend in the area. Being in the privacy of a hotel room can help minimize time spent with others and the chance of getting sick or spreading sickness. However, sometimes thatâs not realistic in its affordability. If you book a hostel or are in a group homestay, especially for multiple nights you will be spending a decent amount of time in the vicinity of others. Staying with friends or family depends on luck of having any in the area in the first place and what their accommodations are like.
The Venue:
This is also largely luck based, and I'll make a disclaimer that event organizers can be extremely limited in what venues they have access to. Sometimes it really is just having a good relationship with a venue owner by chance. That being said, the venue can still contribute to superspreading. A smaller space will undoubtedly compress people closer together, and less ventilation can once again influence the spread. Another note, Iâm not trying to put blame on the organizers, but the last event I went to was at a bar that had no soap in its bathroom. I had my own hand sanitizer so Iâm not gonna blame getting sick on that specifically, but it wasnât fun to wash my hands and realize there was no soap midway through. Another thing is loud noise at events and the sound of a crowd can mean you canât hear someone unless theyâre up close and personal.
The Event:
There are certain aspects of beatboxing culture and the conventions of battles that I think help contribute to getting people sick. First is the circle jam (or jamming in general). Beatboxers tend to be very encouraging about having everyoneâs voice be heard and giving everyone a shot, and the circle jam is a way to do that. The way it goes is that a group of people start a beat, and each person has a handful of bars before they pass the beat to the next person. After a couple rotations or after enough people get tired of doing it, they finish. This means youâre gonna be inhaling the spit of at least the two people next to you, or if itâs a small enough group, the entire circle. A given night will have several circle jams occur, some for fun, and some for recording content. Sometimes theyâll just happen at a homestay group and not even at the event. The second major thing is gonna sound really disgusting, but I am proud to say the global beatbox community as a whole is moving away from this. Even still, I think itâs better if I put a trigger warning here.
TW: Iâm gonna talk about some unhygienic/unsanitary stuff below
The second major aspect I want to talk about is microphone sharing. If you watch old battle videos itâs really common, and two battlers going back and forth will pass the mic similar to a rap battle. Unfortunately, unlike a rap battle, beatboxing results in a much larger amount of spit going into the mic. Beatbox microphones get wet and when they dry they get crusty. For the record, the part that gets covered in the most spit is removable and therefore washable, and beatboxers do wash their mics. But in a battle setting where people have to beatbox right after each other, thereâs not any time to thoroughly wipe them. Iâve been at events where Iâve had to share mics and it really is unbelievably disgusting to taste and sometimes inhale other peopleâs spit. The latest US national championship (2025) had mic sharing at the event and I know at least a quarter of the top 16 got sick afterwards, and I got sick for a whole month afterwards.[2] Thereâs an argument about fairness of sound for beatboxers using different mics, but itâs 2026. Organizers can afford a second mic of the same brand, or allow participants to bring their own mics (and even restrict that to certain brands/models if it matters).
2. I WAS COUGHING FOR THE ENTIRE DAMN MONTH OF DECEMBER AND INTO JANUARY INCLUDING THE HOLIDAYS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
TW over
At this point Iâll be getting every vaccine I can (autism makes a better beatboxer anyways), bringing hand sanitizer everywhere, and wearing a mask whenever applicable. Feel free to make more suggestions in the comments for protecting people from getting sick. More engagement makes me happy but also the less people get sick with things the better.
Hope you enjoyed this post! I donât want this to be an exposĂŠ as much as a criticism done from a place of love (and some exasperation). I know Iâm late again but cooked food takes time, and Iâm finding myself increasingly busy these days. At least itâs not Monday yet. Also, I just added to my 2026 US + Canada beatbox event master list. There will be an event in Bethesda, Maryland (close to Washington D.C.) on March 22, so if you're in the area and looking for good times/good vibes, I would heavily recommend it (you can dm me for more info).
Friday effortpost delayed to tomorrow because I'm sick and I get to tell you guys I'm going to bed early to get rest while actually playing video games until late.
I swear I'll do it tomorrow and not like Monday, I know what I'm gonna write about for sure
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