Crunk Stomp drum pattern
A two-bar stomping groove with doubled kicks, a wall-flat backbeat and plain eighth hats that leave room for chanted hooks. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 100 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Crunk Stomp
Count it as: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a · two bars. The pattern is a 2-bar phrase in 4/4 (two-bar straight 16th-note crunk pocket).
The Crunk Stomp 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-XX ---- | X-X- ---x X-X- --X- |
| Snare | ---- X--- ---- X--- | ---- X--- ---- X--- |
| Closed hat | x-o- x-o- x-o- x-o- | x-o- x-o- x-o- x-o- |
Tempo and feel
Blunt and loud. The kick doubles are shoves, not ornaments, and the backbeat should land like a hand clap in a crowded room. The default tempo is 100 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Crunk Stomp
Play 2 and 4 at full volume with a relaxed stroke. Add the kick doubles and keep them equally loud. Keep the eighth hats straight and quieter than everything else.
Variations to try next
Stop the hats for the hook. Add a kick on every quarter for a four-on-the-floor stomp. Answer the bar-two backbeat with a low-tom hit on the a of 4.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz - Get Low and Usher - Yeah!. A played-kit translation of early-2000s Atlanta crunk programming: heavy doubled kicks, a flat, loud clap-and-snare backbeat and plain eighth hats. It is a style study, not a transcription.