Brooklyn Drill drum pattern
A two-bar Brooklyn drill pattern with busier gliding-808 kicks, a half-time snare answered late in bar one and ghosted pickups that drag the phrase round. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 144 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Brooklyn Drill
Count it as: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a · two bars, snare on 3. The pattern is a 2-bar phrase in 4/4 (two-bar 16th-note drill pocket).
The Brooklyn Drill pattern, hit by hit
Each character is one step of the grid and each group is one beat. X is an accented hit, x a normal hit, o a quiet or ghost note and - a rest.
| Voice | Bar 1 | Bar 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Kick | X--X --X- --X- --x- | X-x- ---X ---X ---- |
| Snare | ---- ---- X--X ---- | ---- ---- X--- ---- |
| Ghost snare | ---- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- ---- -o-o |
| Closed hat | x-o- x-oo --o- x-o- | x-o- xoo- --o- x-o- |
Tempo and feel
Heavy and confrontational. The kicks do the talking; keep the hats light and let the late snare in bar one feel like a shrug. The default tempo is 144 BPM. It plays with 55% swing by default; move the Swing control toward 50% to hear it straight. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Brooklyn Drill
Learn the kick placements in bar one on their own. Add the beat-3 snare and the late snare on the a of 3. Keep the ghost pickups in bar two well under the backbeat.
Variations to try next
Drop the late snare for a plain half-time bar. Swap the bar-two ghosts for a closed-hat run. Push the last kick of bar two to the a of 4.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Pop Smoke - Welcome to the Party and Pop Smoke - Dior. A played-kit study of Brooklyn drill as it grew out of UK drill production: heavier, busier kick placements for the gliding 808, a half-time snare with a late answer in bar one and ghosted snare pickups into bar two. It is a style study, not a transcription.