Hip hop drum patterns.

1. 1970s

   1. 1979
      

      Hip hop

      Rapper's Delight

      The Sugarhill Gang

      First rap hit, cut in one take over a live-band replay of Chic's Good Times; disco-band drums under early recorded rap

2. 1980s

   1. 1982
      

      Hip hop

      Planet Rock

      Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force

      Swapped disco grooves for Roland TR-808 programming; founded electro and made the 808 a hip hop drum sound
   2. 1983
      

      Hip hop

      Sucker M.C.'s

      Run-DMC

      Nothing but a loud Oberheim DMX pattern and scratches; the bare drum-machine beat that launched new-school rap
   3. 1986
      

      Boom bap

      The Bridge

      MC Shan

      Marley Marl samples and rearranges the Impeach the President break; cited as the first reconfigured drum-break sample

3. 1990s

   1. 1992
      

      Hip hop

      Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang

      Dr. Dre

      G-funk: laid-back, mid-tempo drums under a Leon Haywood sample and synth lines; defined 90s West Coast rap
   2. 1992
      

      Boom bap

      They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)

      Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth

      Pete Rock's sax-led Tom Scott loop over a swung break; regularly ranked among hip hop's greatest beats
   3. 1993
      

      Boom bap

      C.R.E.A.M.

      Wu-Tang Clan

      RZA's soul loop over hard, bass-heavy, unpolished drums; set the gritty mid-90s New York drum sound
   4. 1995
      

      Boom bap

      Shook Ones, Pt. II

      Mobb Deep

      Havoc sequenced Daly-Wilson Big Band drums on an MPC60 under a slowed Herbie Hancock sample; peak hardcore boom bap
   5. 1997
      

      Trap

      Tear da Club Up '97

      Three 6 Mafia

      Memphis blueprint: DJ Paul and Juicy J's dark, lo-fi 808 production and chanted hooks, a sound Atlanta trap later drew on

4. 2000s

   1. 2001
      

      Hip hop

      Get Ur Freak On

      Missy Elliott

      Timbaland's syncopated tabla-and-drum pattern with bhangra elements; landmark of off-kilter late-90s/2000s programming
   2. 2002
      

      Grime

      Pulse X

      Musical Mob (Youngstar)

      ReBirth-sequenced 16-bar loop with no intro that drops to bare kick and snare; widely called grime's first beat
   3. 2002
      

      Grime

      Eskimo

      Wiley

      Archetype of Wiley's eskibeat: icy synths over awkward, off-kilter drums, first sold on white-label 12-inch
   4. 2003
      

      Trap

      24's

      T.I.

      DJ Toomp's lead single from Trap Muzik, the album T.I. says named the genre; hard 808 hits under a melodic loop
   5. 2003
      

      Grime

      I Luv U

      Dizzee Rascal

      Made at 16; a stuttering intro drops into a jerky, bass-heavy rhythm he linked to crunk and Three 6 Mafia

5. 2010s

   1. 2010
      

      Trap

      Hard in da Paint

      Waka Flocka Flame

      Lex Luger's breakout: brassy synths, rolling hi-hats and snare rolls over booming 808s, the template for 2010s trap
   2. 2012
      

      Drill

      I Don't Like

      Chief Keef ft. Lil Reese

      Young Chop's debut-single beat: ominous synths, heavy 808s and busy, rattling snares that fixed the Chicago drill sound
   3. 2012
      

      Drill

      Love Sosa

      Chief Keef

      Young Chop's synth-brass and bell beat with crashes and busy snares, the classic Chicago kit; often called Keef's signature
   4. 2013
      

      Trap

      Versace

      Migos

      Zaytoven-produced debut single credited with taking the triplet 'Versace flow' mainstream over a spare 808-and-hat grid
   5. 2014
      

      Drill

      Live Corn

      67 (LD)

      LD's first track under that name; 67 are credited as UK drill's founders, steering the sound toward a homegrown style
   6. 2014
      

      Grime

      That's Not Me

      Skepta ft. JME

      Skepta's deliberate throwback to early grime with an 80-pound video; Complex's most impactful grime song of the 2010s
   7. 2017
      

      Drill

      Kennington Where It Started

      Harlem Spartans

      Kennington anthem fans credit with taking UK drill mainstream in early 2017
   8. 2019
      

      Drill

      Welcome to the Party

      Pop Smoke

      British producer 808Melo's UK-style drill beat under a Brooklyn voice; credited with bringing drill to the US mainstream

Press play to loop each record's busiest two bars. Patterns are machine-detected from the recordings, not verified transcriptions.