Where did it all begin?

The history of Beatboxing is blurry. It appears, like graffiti, to have begun it's life as an urban art form. The beginnings of hip-hop are well known - DJs spinning the breakbeats in records with MCs rapping over the top. When MCs starting to rap over drum machine (beat box) beats, in the ghettos such as the Bronx, drum machines and synthesisers could not be afforded (samplers were at this time well out of the reach of even well-paid musicians). Necessity is the mother of invention, and without machine-supplied beats to rap over, a new instrument was created - the mouth - and thus human beatboxing was born.

The Three Kings of the 1980s

In the early to mid eighties, three names stand out head and shoulders above the rest - Darren 'Buffy' Robinson, Doug E Fresh and Biz Markie.

There has been a great deal of discussion about who was the first, however one thing is for sure, and that is that in 1983, a trio from Brooklyn won a talent contest at Radio City Music Hall. The trio, formerly known as The Disco Three, were comprised of Mark "Prince Markie Dee" Morales, Damon "Kool Rock-Ski" Wimbley, and Darren "Buff the Human Beat Box" Robinson. These were The Fat Boys. Buff Love, or Buffy as he came to be known, helped the group win the talent contest through his ability to use his mouth to recreate hip-hop rhythms and a variety of sound effects. The prize? A record contract. Rumour has it that the band were gutted as they wanted to win the second prize of a stereo! Buffy was known for his breathing technique between kicks and snares. The Fat Boys enjoyed a short but successful career. They finally split in the early 1990s to go their separate ways. Sadly, on Dec 10, 1995, Darren "Buffy the Human Beat Box" Robinson died of a heart attack in Rosedale, NY.

Also in 1983, Doug E Fresh (Doug E Davis) made his first appearance on a single for Spotlight called 'Pass the Budda' with Spoonie Gee and DJ Spivey although Doug E. Fresh claims that he invented human beatboxing in 1980. In 1984, Doug featured in the classic hip-hop movie Beat Street alongside the Treacherous Three and this was to launch him as one of the greatest beatboxers of all time. Doug was known for his distinctive style featuring amongst other sounds, the now famous click rolls. In 1985, Doug E Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew (MC Ricky 'Slick Rick' D, Barry Bee and Chill Will) released the now classic hip-hop double-A side, 'The Show/La Di Da Di'.

By 1985, beatboxing was being taken forward by other artistes such as Biz Markie. Although a rapper, he started working as a human beatboxer with acts such as Roxanne Shanté and started developing sounds such as MCing between the beat, the inward handclap and the harmonic tap.

And then there were none...

Beatboxing rode the crest of the hip-hop wave featuring on albums and videos but then it all ended. By the 1990s hip-hop was no longer center stage and beatboxers were held back by people's perceptions of them as novelty value circus acts.

Beatboxing/Vocal Percussion popped up in jazz, and was the foundation for a new breed of A Capella groups using soft organic percussion to keep time in their tracks. The art form spread slowly and quietly into many genres, including rock music with the group The HouseJacks, and jazz great Bobby McFerrin showed off more and more of his skills as his audience grew.

Vocal boundaries where also smashed by Michael Winslow the Vocal Effects Master. You probably know him as the guy from the Police Academy movies who does the amazing sound effects that you, like me, assumed were fake. He also did behind-the-camera sound effects for films such as Back to The Future.

Next month...

In Part 3, we will trace the history of the new school beatboxers, Rahzel, Kela and the role the Internet has played in bringing beatboxing to a wider audience.