The UK Final - Cargo, London - 12, July 2006

Words and pix by Daniel Blewitt
More pix here

The art of Beatboxing is up on the up, with artists Rahzel and Killa Kela ripping up stages worldwide and being recognisd as headline acts. Kela’s advanced the recorded produced vibe, but for many, the real joy in experiencing the human beatboxer comes across live, hearing the voice box basslines drop and the snares and scratches slice the air. More and more promoters are wising up to this and booking beatboxers for sets to sprinkle their unique magic into the mix. But what about a whole night of beatbox battles, the best eight in the country, wittled down from regional and online heats going head-to -head, hosted by Foreign Beggars’ Orifice Vulgatron with a heavy hiphop support lineup?

Sounds exciting ... It was.

Cargo was packed by 9pm, to see Dr Rhythm clinch the London heat and progress to the UK final eight.

The battle judges consisted of Foreign Beggars’ Shlomo, Belgium’s Roxorloops and Humanbeatbox.com founder A-Plus. Three of the best around. Just to prove it they dropped stunning individual intros, before Shlomo and Roxorloops duetted , inspiring Orifice Vulgatron to grab a third mic for some DnB MCing.

The battles themselves were hype, hype, hype, with many different styles being switched effortlessly. Special mention must go to lady beatboxer and online Champ Bellatrix for taking on, and nearly beating the boys.

If you don’t know, It’s not just drum machine beats, but proper reproductions of tracks, built up bit by bit, basslines, snares and kicks, then samples and vocals, and if that’s not enough, then they scratch it up, slow it down and mix into the next track.

Like a virtual DJ turntablist battle, who’s got the hypest tracks and freshest tricks, including rewinds, speed changes, and full scratch routines. Party classics, hip-hop, DnB and novelty tracks chopped up at will. Imagine ’Push It’ then ’U Can’t Touch This’, chopped into ’Brown Paper Bag’ and ’Metropolis’ then ’Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better’ and some Michael Jackson to finish...

The final saw Southern Champ Beardyman against Ipswich’s Pikey Esquire. Two x two minute rounds weren’t enough to choose a winner and numerous extra ’decider’ rounds were needed, sending the crowd mental. Neither repeated anything all night, just infinite new sounds, including sampling the other one in response. In the end Beardyman finally got the decision, it could have easily gone the other way.

Beardyman will now go on rep the UK in the world Champs in Japan later this year.

A big night, a great show, and a very good night for the Beatbox movement.

And if you haven’t experienced Beatboxing live, get out more.

The above text and any accompanying images are Copyright Daniel Blewitt, and not for publication in any form without prior agreement.