#beatboxing

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. 

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 hasn’t 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 don’t). This was Venoa’s 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 (“Bitch I’m on top 2nd place by a long shot”) that add to that aggressive energy (sometimes hip hop is just like that, Venoa’s actually the opposite of an arrogant person so I don’t 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 can’t get enough of. It’s 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 Xepher’s second round from 3:35 to 5:15, but feel free to watch the whole thing if you’d like. 

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 there’s nothing real at stake and less pressure since it’s 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. 

I love listening to Xepher because he knows how to keep his music fresh. He’ll construct a tone/texture that’s nice to listen to and then creates variation upon variation with that texture to keep it interesting (see the part where he says “switch it up” and someone in the crowd says “oh my goodness!”). In that “switch it up” section, he uses a sound called “fart bass” (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 that’s 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 Moths’s 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. I’m not the most poetic person, so I’m 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 “elephant sound” 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!