The UK Beatbox Championships are hosted every year in London, England. This historic annual all-day event, which brings together the country's top beatbox artists for gladiatorial knock-out of face to face beatbox battles, in five different categories solo, female, team, loopstation and under-18. The 2019 UK Beatbox Championships was held on 23 and 24 November 2019.
History
The UK Beatbox Championships are one of the major tournaments in British Hip Hop music scene, and has been held at various venues in its history that include the Scala at Kings Cross, O2 Academy Islington, the Garage, and the Grand Theatre, Clapham, London. The first ever UK Beatbox Championship took place in 2005 in London, England, hosted by UK Beatbox Championships. Qualification for the UK Beatbox Championships consists of geographical heats held around Britain, which are contested from February through to June in London, Bristol , Nottingham and Liverpool. Beatboxing is the art of producing percussion, rhythm and musical sounds using only parts of the human body, namely the mouth, lips, tongue, vocal cords, nasal passage and throat. The event attracts around 1000 spectators and is live streamed to around 90 countries globally. A panel of highly respected judges include former winners and international judges from the beatboxing fraternity. The judges listen for originality, musical composition, technique, clarity, complexity, timing, rhythm, flow, and performance. They look for witty response in battle, ingenuity, endurance and intelligence. Winners of the solo event include Faith FSX, Beardyman, MC Zani, Reeps One, Ball-Zee, Contrix, D-Low and Frosty. A solo event for ladies was introduced in 2012 and won by Grace Savage and Bellatrix before being disbanded the 2016 event. A team event was introduced in 2012 and has been won by Illbits, the all female group BURD and Kotcha. Loopstation was introduced in 2013 and has been won by Hobbit, Oxbox, Bellatrix and Balance. An Under 18 tournament was introduced in 2014 and has been won by D-low, Redbeard, Frosty and Epos. The tournament was sponsored in the early years by Vauxhall, since then the sponsor has been Relentlessenergy drink and Popbox. The winners of each title qualify for the Beatbox Battle World Championship in Berlin.
