Hip hop drum patterns.

10 hip hop patterns at 92 BPM. Play one, change any step, take it to your DAW as MIDI.

If a drum pattern can be called the default, it is this one: kick on one, snare on two and four, a second kick on the and of three, hats in eighths with a pickup into the bar, a little swing. It sits under hip hop from the eighties to now, and the eras differ mostly in sounds and swing, not in where the hits go. The grid opens on it at 92 BPM so you can hear how little it needs.

Basic. Kick on one and the and of three, snare on two and four, eighth hats with a swung pickup into the next bar: the default beat.

Hat
Snare
Kick

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Double kick. Two kicks before the snare, the second one a sixteenth late.

Open hat
Hat
Snare
Kick

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Clap and 808. Clap over the snare and an 808 on every kick, the hat pickup kept: the modern version of the same beat.

Hat
Clap
Snare
808
Kick

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Bounce. Kick on one and the and of two, a snare pickup on the a of four, swung: the bounce.

Hat
Shaker
Snare
Kick

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Sparse. Kick on one, snare on two and four, no hats and so no swing: the beat under a spoken intro.

Snare
Kick

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Chorus, open hats. Open hat on the and of two and four, a crash on one, the hat pickup into the bar: the hook.

Crash
Open hat
Hat
Clap
Snare
Kick

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Two bars, kick answer. Bar two's kicks move to the a of one and the and of three, answering bar one.

Hat
Snare
Kick

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Half-time at 85. Snare on three, kicks on one and the and of two, eighth hats with swung doubles before three and one: the slow version that turned into trap.

Hat
Rim
Snare
Kick

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Shuffled at 100. The basic beat with sixteenth hats swung to 62 and a shaker on the ands: the laid-back end before it becomes lo-fi.

Hat
Shaker
Snare
Kick

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Kick, snare and rim. No hats; a rim on the sixteenth before each snare carries the time instead.

Rim
Snare
Kick

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How a hip hop beat is built

The kick

The snare on two and four

Hats

Then a variation: Double kick

Kick on step 1 and step 11, snare on steps 5 and 13, hats on every eighth plus one on step 16, the a of four, swing at about 55: the swing moves the odd sixteenths, so that pickup is where you hear it. The kick on the and of three is what separates this from a rock beat: it comes in late, pushes into the fourth-beat snare, and gives the bar its lean. The double-kick version adds a kick on step 4, the a of one, so two kicks run into the first snare, and repeats the shape in the second half with kicks on 11 and 14. The clap-and-808 version keeps the original pattern, doubles the snare with a clap, adds an 808 under each kick and lowers the swing to 50: the same beat, dressed for now.

More drum patterns

The beat you want is in a song you’re playing.

DOT records anything your Mac plays, with its BPM, so you can loop the part and program it here.

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Questions.

What tempo is hip hop?

85 to 100 BPM for the classic feel; the grid opens at 92. Trap and drill are the same culture at double the tempo with the snare on three; boom bap is this pattern with more swing and dirtier sounds.

Which kick makes it hip hop?

The one on the and of three, step 11. Move it to step 9, beat three, and the pattern turns into rock; move it to step 7 and it pulls the other way.

Do I need swing?

A little, 52 to 58, on the pickups and doubles; the swing only moves the odd sixteenths, so eighth hats alone never swing. At zero it sounds programmed, which some records want; past 60 the pickups drag and it reads as boom bap or lo-fi.

More free tools

All free tools →

Drum sequencer

Program a beat on a 16-step grid.

Drum pad

16 pads on your keyboard, your own sounds too.

Metronome

A steady click, and a click track to download.