Word.ws English Dictionary

boom bap

boom bap noun: a style/subgenre of hip hop characterized by hard-hitting drums, usually containing the kick drum/snare drum/hi-hat combination rather than claps, snaps, TR-808 bass drums, cowbells, shakers, and various other percussion sounds used for rhythm.

Noun

boom bap (uncountable)

  1. A style/subgenre of hip hop characterized by hard-hitting drums, usually containing the kick drum/snare drum/hi-hat combination rather than claps, snaps, TR-808 bass drums, cowbells, shakers, and various other percussion sounds used for rhythm.
    • A beat made with the 808 drum kit isn't boom bap!
    • The story of Boom Bap is closely associated with the development and practice of sampling, and as such, Boom Bap is often described as a production technique, a sound, a style, or a subgenre.2023, Michail Exarchos, Reimagining Sample-based Hip Hop: Making Records within Records, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 1997

Origin of boom bap

Imitative, representing the sounds of the bass drum and snare drum, respectively.

Questions about boom bap

What does boom bap mean?
Boom bap means a style/subgenre of hip hop characterized by hard-hitting drums, usually containing the kick drum/snare drum/hi-hat combination rather than claps, snaps, TR-808 bass drums, cowbells, shakers, and various other percussion sounds used for rhythm.
What part of speech is boom bap?
Boom bap is a noun.

Words near boom bap in the dictionary

  1. Boolite
  2. bools
  3. booly
  4. boom
  5. boom and bust
  6. boom bap
  7. boom barrier
  8. boom barriers
  9. boom box
  10. boom boxes
  11. boom car

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: boom bap (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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