How you like them battles?

As the second night of the 2021 Grand Beatbox Battle pushed past midnight and entered its second early morning, the crowd’s energy could have flagged. The top-16 battles went long, and Scott Jackson had been asking them to bring energy for hours at that point. Still, when King Inertia and Helium took the mics, the crowd roared, and were as involved as they had been at any point that night.

That is, until the end of Helium’s second round. With thirty seconds left, the Russian champion began a surprise lip roll pattern that, to many in the audience, was unintelligible. With the typical signs of 4:4 structure left behind, the crowd noise dimmed as hundreds of people tried to find the beat.

When, nearly two years after the battle, Tony Sodano first watched the battle video on Youtube, he had a very different reaction. “Rhythmically,” he said, “the conceptual design is really hip. That would actually be pretty fun to sit down and notate.”

Uh …

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Sodano, who makes reaction videos on Youtube and Twitch as DrumRollTony, had no trouble understanding the pattern, and explained it in just 13 seconds, speaking out the pattern and clapping to help the viewers follow the beat. He was able to do this so quickly because he himself is a longtime musician and music teacher, and currently serves as the musical director for the Seattle Seahawks Drumline.

Sodano is one of a small but growing number of musicians who have recently come fresh to beatbox, and make reaction videos to some of the biggest beatbox battles and routines on Youtube. Based on their background and expertise, these reactors give detailed feedback to beatboxers on composition, technique, similarities with other synthetic and analogue instruments, and, of course, vibes.

And with beatboxers increasingly looking beyond the beatbox battle for creative space to explore their art, these reaction videos provide beatboxers rare insights into the way their music is perceived by their peers who work with and in different instruments and genres. 

Like Sodano, the Fairy Voice Mother, aka Lolli Wren, was first introduced to beatboxing by a follower who wanted to see her react to beatbox. “The first thing I thought of when I watched it,” Wren told me, was “why isn't this part of any vocal coaching? Because this is vocal coaching to its maximum amazing potential.”

A musician, vocal coach, and the author of a forthcoming master’s thesis on unconventional vocal techniques, Wren thinks the world would benefit from more people using their voices. “I used to say sing, but since I've encountered beatboxing, I've seen that there's a way to use your voice in a completely unconventional way that can sometimes have nothing to do with singing, and make beautiful music,” she said.

Where Wren sees vocal technique, and Sodano sees rhythmic and melodic composition, Joey “Lucky Boy” Nato, a producer and rapper, sees human replications of analogue and synthetic sounds. “I try to add value to my content by translating what the average person would hear into musical terms.” Nato explained. 

“I want people to try to understand what they're hearing. So if somebody is a beatbox fan, but doesn't know much about kicks, or snares, or high hats, or synth bass — any of those types of ear candy elements — I try to break it down for them.”

Nato occupies a similar space within the musician reactor realm as some new beatbox fans do within the mainstream beatbox world. He appreciates the solo beatbox, but is primarily drawn to loopstation, which sounds more like the music he makes and listens to. 

Like Wren, Nato sees a lot of overlap between his music and beatboxing. “Loop station is basically being a producer with your mouth on stage to the fullest degree,” he said. 

Though all of the musician reactors have little knowledge of the goings-on in the beatbox world, Wren is immersed in it at a level deeper than her fellow reactors. She has collaborated on videos with Beatbox International, taught GBB champion River on her channel, and, unlike the other musician reactors, attended a battle: the 2022 Florida Beatbox Battle. 

In a vlog Wren recorded at the event, the beatboxers she speaks with are visibly pleased with the attention she gives them. Not only is it clear that they enjoy the recognition, but they especially appreciate the recognition from someone who understands what they are doing. They talk about throat muscles, musical intervals, and regular singing techniques, all at a level that the usual first-timer at a battle could never maintain.

Both Sodano and Nato highlighted their inability to turn off their critical ears as a reason they are able to react well. Sodano has years of experience teaching music students and hearing their compositions in real time that sharpened his ears, while Nato has decades of listening to songs, identifying unique synths, kits, hats, and techniques so he can use them in his songs. As these experts watch beatbox, they can identify the things they are seeing in real time, as Sodano did with Helium’s unique pattern at the GBB.

“When I watch a beatbox video, it's no different than watching any music video,” Sodano said, beginning a rant that will read like music to beatboxers’ ears.

“It's a blessing and a curse to listen super actively, because as soon as you start doing it that way, you can't really just passively enjoy shit, because everything gets super analytical. So I'm always evaluating. What is the tempo of this? What's the phrasing? 

Even from an outsider perspective, you can still have a high standard of excellence for music, because music is still music.” 

The idea that beatbox is music has been around the beatbox scene for years. It’s hard to believe, but MB14 vs Saro — the GBB battle that brought me and countless other beatbox fans into the fold — happened nearly seven years ago. After Saro’s first round in that battle, Scott Jackson proclaimed that the track was “100% proof that beatbox is music.”

In recent years, beatboxers have truly come to believe this mantra, exploring the many possibilities for beatboxing beyond the battle. Still, beatboxers have been waiting for this kind of outside recognition going back to that legendary loop battle and even before it. 

And in these reactors, and in the Fairy Voice Mother especially, beatboxers have new evangelists. Ones who don’t beatbox. 

After seeing the potential in beatbox, and also the ephemeral nature of beatbox learning, Wren “decided to make a course called vocal technique for beatboxers that will be coming out this year. Something that's affordable.”

Many sounds in the beatbox world are called by different names, and the tutorials for those sounds rely on the sensations you feel when you make them, rather than science and anatomy — Wren’s area of expertise.

“When I was speaking to River, the beatboxer, I was amazed at how amazed he was when I taught him how to do a mix voice, which is basically how to sing high and strong. It blew his mind. That was really interesting, because the stuff that he does is crazy advanced and blows my mind, but something that I thought was basic blew his mind. 

So a lot of beatboxers have gaps in their knowledge of anatomy. And in my experience teaching conventional vocal techniques, having a foundation and a greater grasp on anatomy helps a lot because you don't have to rely on sensation[s] anymore, you can actually put labels on what you're doing. So it's much easier to replicate and improve.”

(The many beatboxers who have posted on r/beatbox complaining of throat bleeding when attempting inward bass are surely celebrating this news.)

With the Fairy Voice Mother teaching, and other producers, like Simon Servida, collaborating with beatboxers, and reactors like the rapper Black Pegasus saying they want to rap while a beatboxer lays down a track, it is clear that this type of reaction, made by people outside the beatbox world, is categorically different from other reactions. It’s additive, rather than derivative. And it’s here to stay. 

At the end of each of my interviews, all the reactors had the same question for me:

“Who should I check out next?”

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Recent Event Roundup

Among the many recent battles, I really wanted to showcase Beatland, the half-online half-live battle hosted by the Mad Twinz and supported by Swissbeatbox. After a few false-starts with judging and securing the in-person event, Beatland went off this past fall, and I’m glad to share a brief recap from Duncan, the winner of Beatland’s loopstation bracket.

Beatland was a really great and life changing experience for me. The Mad Twinz were really great. I was really surprised by how we were treated as artists throughout the whole trip. They brought us to the mountains, waterfalls, and the beach, and they basically paid for everything. The flight, hotels and even food.

The crowd was not what I'm used to, because the crowds were mostly not beatboxers, and most of them needed some warming up to get into the groove. For a lot of them, it was their first beatbox event. So it took them a little time to get used to the culture and the vibe. I feel like most people there kind of treated it like a festival. 

[In terms of the battle and artist experience,] the vibe between artists, was really great. Mad Twinz shot some videos for us, we shared music we we liked, and did a lot of stuff together. The vibe was just great.

Upcoming Calendar: Events

• River’ at A CAPE'lla - Festival autour de la voix 2024: Ettelbruck, Luxembourg. January 26, 2024.
• Black Rhythm at Absolutamente Negro: Piñones, Puerto Rico. January 26, 2024.
• Haten Microphone MC & Beatbox Battle: Yokohama, Japan. January 25-28, 2024.
• Beatbox of the Month: Berlin, Germany. January 27, 2024.
• Batalha De Virdo: Online. January 27, 2024.
• Beatbox Pakistan National Championships: Karachi, Pakistan. January 27, 2024.
• Learn How to Beatbox with West Coast Groove: Vancouver, Canada. January 27, 2024.
• Dutch Beatbox Jam Session: Almere, The Netherlands. January 28, 2024.
• Sarukani at GMO Sonic 2024: Saitama, Japan. January 28, 2024.
• UK Beatbox Championships: London, United Kingdom. February 2-3, 2024.
• Remix and Shmee at Klitsgrass Drumming Circle: Tierpoort, South Africa. February 10, 2024.
• Beatbox Royalty Talk Event: Hamilton, New Zealand. February 24, 2024.
• Dutch Beatbox Champions League: Almere, The Netherlands. February 24, 2024.
• Etude Op.1 Battle: Seoul, South Korea. February 28, 2024.
• Beatbox of the Month: Berlin, Germany. March 3, 2024.
• Italian Beatbox Championship: Venice, Italy. March 9-10, 2024.
• Saarland Beatbox Championship: Saarbrücken, Germany. March 16, 2024.
• CUBE UNITE: Tokyo, Japan. March 31, 2024.
• Florida Beatbox Battle: Agen, France. April 5-6, 2024.
• German Beatbox Championship: Berlin, Germany. May 10, 2024.
• World Wide Beatbox Festival 2024: Maggie Valley, North Carolina (USA). May 16-19.
• Yamori at Hakuba Yahooo! Festival 2024: Nagano, Japan. May 26, 2024.
• Great North Battle: Toronto, Canada. June 1-2, 2024.
• Circlejam Beatbox Festival: Ferlach, Austria. July 26-27, 2024
• Beatbox Battle of the Year: Ghent, Belgium September 21, 2024.
• Grand Beatbox Battle: Toyosu PIT, Japan. November 1-3, 2024.

Upcoming Calendar: Wild Cards

• German Beatbox Championship: Open until January 31, 2024.

• Great North Battle: Open until January 31, 2024.

• Saarland Beatbox Championship: Open until February 15, 2024.

• Etude Op.1 Battle: Open February 1-28, 2024.

• Grand Beatbox Battle:

  • Solo and Loopstation: Open until March 9, 2024.

  • Tag Team, Crew, Producer: Open until March 23, 2024

• World Wide Beatbox Festival: dates coming soon.

If I missed any upcoming events or Wild Cards, hit me up on Instagram, I’m @HateItOrLevitt or @SpeshFX.