About 10 years ago, I discovered Rahzel and was forever changed (although I didn’t know it at the time). I had bought a CD called Make the Music, and on that album there was a particular track that excited me. On it, I listened to Rahzel, well, check out what I heard all those years ago:

At the time, I really didn’t understand how he was doing it all. It wasn’t until I was about 23 that I started to hone my own beatboxing skills and began listening very closely to some local beatboxers. One of those beatboxers was Kaleb Simmonds:

I put on headphones and listened to a CD with his beatboxing on it, and I would rewind it over and over. Another local beatboxer that influenced and inspired me to keep at it was EMC (with whom I would later become friends and perform):

Although I haven’t performed in years and likely won’t again, beatboxing still courses through my veins (as I suspect it does for most beatboxers). It’s the art of making music without an instrument. It can be done anywhere and is a heck of a party trick. Beatboxing has come a long way since its earliest days, with artists constantly pushing themselves and each other to become more innovative and creative. Here are some awesome beatboxers to check out:

FaithSFX

Killa Kela

Kenny Muhammed

Shlomo

Beardyman

Joel Turner

Doug E. Fresh

Biz Markie

and my personal favorite, a French beatboxer named

Eklips

(click his name to see him do Dr. Dre’s Still D.R.E)

View the clip from which that snippet comes (it’s well worth checking out)!