Full Frame: Dropping (the human) Beats

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Anyone whose witnessed it in person, will tell you: beatboxing is a sight to behold.

The modern musical art form – that is technically described as “a form of vocal percussion involving the art of mimicking drum machines, using one’s mouth, lips, tongue, and voice” – gained popularity in the early 1980s when hip hop artists began mimicking the sounds of drum machines in their compositions.

Sung Lee is an award-winning beatboxer and live looper with more than a decade of experience on the scene.

Photo via CGTN America

Using just his mouth, a microphone and a loop pedal, he performs intricate and astounding vocal compositions that draw a crowd – whether it’s at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem or on New York City’s subway platforms.

And his talent knows no boundaries – his repertoire includes everything from hip hop, to pop, to electronic dance music.

CGTN America’s Mike Walter caught up with Sung Lee – aka SungBeats – in New York City to witness the magic firsthand and get a crash course in the art of beatboxing.

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