ROYALTY FREE HIP-HOP BEATS

Are you a hip hop artist looking for free beats? Or maybe you make videos on YouTube and you need a cool hip hop instrumental to use as background music? Whatever your need is, our hip hop beats are free for you to use! Any creative purpose is allowed, just make sure you adhere to our terms of use.


One Love
Tempo: 87bpm

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Retrospective
Tempo: 92bpm

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Watch Out
Tempo: 88bpm

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Stand Up
Tempo: 81bpm

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My Homies
Tempo: 99bpm

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Problems
Tempo: 92bpm

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Freedom
Tempo: 92bpm

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Street Justice
Tempo: 85bpm

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Mean Business
Tempo: 92bpm

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Crime
Tempo: 92bpm

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Warning
Tempo: 94bpm

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Coffee Date
Tempo: 85bpm

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Injustice
Tempo: 94bpm

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Heist
Tempo: 94bpm

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Betrayed
Tempo: 160bpm

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Slow Ride
Tempo: 88bpm

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Rearview
Tempo: 94bpm

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Grind
Tempo: 94bpm

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Cruisin’
Tempo: 88bpm

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As I Daydream
Tempo: 80bpm

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Slick
Tempo: 95bpm

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Timelapse
Tempo: 82bpm

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Battle
Tempo: 94bpm

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Contemplate
Tempo: 142bpm

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Trouble
Tempo: 89bpm

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Cafe
Tempo: 88bpm

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Pain
Tempo: 85bpm

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Reflect
Tempo: 102bpm

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Dreams
Tempo: 88bpm

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Zen
Tempo: 137bpm

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Portrait
Tempo: 93bpm

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Letting Go
Tempo: 94bpm

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Everywhere
Tempo: 97bpm

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Twisted
Tempo: 92bpm

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Lazy Day
Tempo: 139bpm

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Power
Tempo: 85bpm

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Reminisce
Tempo: 84bpm

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Tunnel Vision
Tempo: 96bpm

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Seasons Change
Tempo: 86bpm

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Brother Down
Tempo: 102bpm

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The End
Tempo: 94bpm

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Carefree
Tempo: 90bpm

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Wistful
Tempo: 86bpm

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Trapped Inside
Tempo: 148bpm

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Every Night
Tempo: 84bpm

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Save Me
Tempo: 144bpm

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Dream Girl
Tempo: 157bpm

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Stickup Kid
Tempo: 87bpm

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Trife Life
Tempo: 94bpm

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Revolt
Tempo: 156bpm

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Soul Search
Tempo: 156bpm

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Daydream
Tempo: 148bpm

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Autumn
Tempo: 90bpm

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Soul Story
Tempo: 94bpm

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Concrete Jungle
Tempo: 92bpm

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Bloodline
Tempo: 92bpm

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Disturbed
Tempo: 92bpm

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Alone
Tempo: 84bpm

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Hazy Nights
Tempo: 94bpm

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Feelin’ Good
Tempo: 86bpm

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Relax
Tempo: 92bpm

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Afterglow
Tempo: 82bpm

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New Day
Tempo: 112bpm

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Friend Or Foe
Tempo: 92bpm

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Time
Tempo: 96bpm

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Takeover
Tempo: 88bpm

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Old Soul
Tempo: 88bpm

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Eternal
Tempo: 100bpm

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Secret Wars
Tempo: 82bpm

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INFORMATION ABOUT HIP HOP INSTRUMENTALS

Hip hop beats generally have a tempo of 80-100 beats-per-minute. Rather than using electronic drums and sounds, most hip hop instrumentals use drums, melodies and basslines sampled from vinyl. These samples will usually originate from R&B / Soul records from the 60s and 70s. However, this is not always the case -- many modern producers have started composing their own melodies / basslines with virtual instruments and adding production effects to them instead of sampling vinyl records. This is done to avoid infringing on copyrights, clearing samples and paying royalties. Drums on a hip hop beat are often played in a swing/shuffle pattern, as opposed to straight-time -- this is what gives many hip hop songs their "head nodding" appeal. Many attribute this to the Akai MPC, which was a very popular sampler used by hip hop producers in the 1990s and had very pronounced swing settings by default.

There are a variety of subgenres in hip hop and the beats that correspond with these different subgenres are stylistically distinct. Boom bap beats are usually sparse melodically, instead focusing on loud, in-your-face kick & snare drum loops. West coast beats (a style popularized by Dr. Dre in the 90s) are usually funk-inspired with simplified drum patterns. Other elements found in west coast hip hop instrumentals include piano chords, string stabs, synthesized 'moog' bass and high-pitched 'worm' synth lead melodies. East coast hip hop beats rely heavily on samples and are often described as "raw" sounding. These types of beats can be very diverse, ranging from soulful (eg. J Dilla, Pete Rock) to dark and grimy (eg. RZA, Havoc).

Most hip hop fans consider the 1990's as the "golden era of hip hop". The sound and vibe of music produced during this time is what many modern music producers are trying to recapture when making hip hop instrumentals. Other noteworthy producers that both pioneered and defined the sound of modern hip hop beats include DJ Premier, Just Blaze, Swizz Beatz & Large Professor.