Hip-hop drum beat at 85 BPM
Press Play for a hip-hop drum beat at 85 BPM. It starts with Boom Bap, and you can switch to Amen Break. One beat lasts 706 ms.
Playing over a hip-hop drum beat at 85 BPM
85 BPM is a comfortable middle tempo for hip-hop. Use it to play whole songs or long improvisations without stopping; the fills every few bars tell you where each phrase ends.
What plays at 85 BPM
Boom Bap is written at 92 BPM, the closest of this style's grooves to 85 BPM, so it opens first and plays a little slower than written. In 4/4 at this tempo a quarter note lasts 706 ms, an eighth note 353 ms and a sixteenth 176 ms, which is the spacing of the hi-hat you hear. Switch to Amen Break on the page and the tempo stays at 85 BPM.
How long is a phrase at 85 BPM?
Knowing how long a phrase lasts helps you plan a song, a solo or a recording take. The drums play a fill at the end of every four or eight bars, so these are the lengths you will hear.
| Length | Time |
|---|---|
| One bar of 4/4 | 2.8 seconds |
| Four-bar phrase | 11 seconds |
| Eight-bar section | 23 seconds |
| Three-minute song | about 64 bars |
How a hip-hop drum beat works
Boom bap is a heavy kick ("boom") and a hard snare ("bap") with a slightly swung hi-hat. It is slower than it sounds: most of the energy comes from where the kick lands around the snare, not from the tempo.
How to play along
Rappers: count four bars per line and aim your stressed syllables at the snare. Keys and guitar players: loop a two- or four-chord phrase and leave space for the vocal. Try adding a little swing to your own sixteenths to match the hi-hat.