The beat library

If you are new, start with a boom bap beat under 90 BPM: the snare on two and four is the clearest timing reference there is. Move to chill boom bap for writing and storytelling, trap and chill trap when you want to practise half-time and triplet flows, and drill when you are ready for syncopation. The BPM guide for rappers explains how tempo affects each style.

Every beat has its own tempo, swing and rhythm pattern, and the bouncing ball in the game follows that exact grid. Select any beat name below to open it in the game.

Tempo decides how much time you have to fill each bar (240 ÷ BPM seconds). Here is how the 161 beats are spread across tempo bands, with the median at 90 BPM:

• Under 85 BPM: 12 beats — 3.0 s or longer per bar.
• 85–99 BPM: 104 beats — about 2.4–2.8 s per bar.
• 100–129 BPM: 12 beats — about 1.9–2.4 s per bar.
• 130–149 BPM: 16 beats — about 1.6–1.8 s per bar (usually half-time).
• 150 BPM and up: 17 beats — 1.6 s or less per bar (half-time).

Most of the library sits between 85 and 100 BPM because that is where boom bap and chill boom bap live, and those are the styles most people learn timing on. The 130 BPM-and-up bands are almost entirely trap, chill trap and drill, which are normally felt at half-time — a 140 BPM beat grooves like 70. If a fast beat feels manageable, that is why.

A practical rule: start in the 85–99 band, stay there until you can land a full 16 bars, then move one band at a time. Jumping two bands at once usually costs more timing than it builds.

Each beat is rated Low, Medium or High energy. Across the whole library there are 84 low, 41 medium and 36 high energy beats. Energy tracks style closely: boom bap and chill boom bap are mostly low, Alt is low to medium, and trap, chill trap and drill are mostly high.

Energy matters for delivery more than for timing. Low-energy beats leave space for a conversational voice and detailed writing. High-energy beats push you to match their intensity with sharper consonants and shorter phrases. A useful exercise is to take one written verse and perform it on a low-energy and a high-energy beat at a similar tempo; the words stay the same but the right delivery changes completely.

Every beat in the library carries the same small set of facts: a name, a producer credit, a tempo, a swing value, an energy rating, a short mood description and a rhythm pattern label that describes the drum feel (boom bap, lo-fi, trap, drill or funk). The game uses those facts directly. The bouncing ball is driven by the tempo and swing, and the intro length tells the game where the first full bar begins, so your count starts on a real downbeat rather than on the first sound in the file.

Beats are grouped by vibe rather than by producer, because vibe is what changes how you practise. A few beats belong to more than one vibe in the source folders; on this site each beat is listed under its main vibe so nothing is counted twice. The numbers on these pages — counts, tempo ranges, medians and energy totals — are calculated from the same catalog the game loads, so they always match what you see when you open the beat picker.

• First ever run: the slowest boom bap beat, Dis Beat at 75 BPM. Land one rhyme word on beat four per bar and nothing else.
• Building a steady clock: a boom bap beat close to 90 BPM, such as Boys in the A.M. Make it your reference beat and return to it every session.
• Writing and storytelling: chill boom bap at 80–88 BPM. Long bars, low energy, room for full sentences.
• Breath control: any 85–95 BPM beat with a 16-bar session; breathe after every second rhyme, as in the breath control guide.
• Half-time and triplets: trap at 140 BPM, such as Vegeta. Count the slow pulse before you rap.
• Hooks and melody: chill trap at 105–120 BPM. Repeat a short title phrase every other bar.
• Syncopation: drill, starting with Back at 120 BPM before the 144–153 BPM beats.
• Breaking habits: Alt, especially the cluster of DJ Maintain beats at 88 BPM.

• BPM is the written tempo in beats per minute. Trap and drill beats are usually felt at half-time, so a 140 BPM trap beat can feel as relaxed as a 70 BPM groove.
• Energy (Low, Medium, High) describes how busy and intense the beat feels. Low-energy beats leave the most space for your voice; high-energy beats push you to match their intensity.
• Mood is a short description of the sound, such as Dusty drums · Head nod or Warm soul · Laid back, to help you pick a beat that suits what you want to write about.
• Swing (set per beat in the game) shifts some notes slightly late for a looser, human feel. The ball follows the swing, so you do not need to adjust for it yourself.

1. First week: the slowest boom bap beats. Learn to land every rhyme on beat four.
2. Second week: faster boom bap and chill boom bap. Full lines, longer runs, steady breathing.
3. Third week: trap and chill trap. Ride the half-time pulse and try triplets.
4. After that: drill for syncopation and alt for variety. Return to a slow beat at the end of each session.

This path matches the 7-day freestyle practice plan and the four-week schedule in the BPM guide.

A few smaller categories round out the library. They are great for variety once you are comfortable on the main styles.

The instrumentals come from 9 producers, including 9 made in-house by The Rhyme Game, and every beat is credited by name in the game and on every beat list on this site. Producers keep the rights to their work. Beats are streamed for practice inside Rhyme Game only and are not offered as downloads; to release a song on one, contact the producer for a licence. The full producer list, rights notice and the process for credit corrections or removal requests are on the beat credits page. See also our Terms of Use.