The pattern
150 BPM · 4/4 · 16 step
| Instrument | Beat 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Beat 2 | Step 6 | Step 7 | Step 8 | Beat 3 | Step 10 | Step 11 | Step 12 | Beat 4 | Step 14 | Step 15 | Step 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kick | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit |
| 808 | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit |
| Clap | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest |
| Closed hi-hat | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest |
| Cowbell | hit | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | hit | rest |
How to play it and where it comes from
Drift phonk sits between 140 and 160 in half time: clap on 3 of every bar, saturated kick and 808 that "pump" together. The identity is the cowbell (sampled from the TR-808) playing the melody in 3-3-2 groups of sixteenths, tuned to the minor or Phrygian scale. Eighth-note hi-hats, often dirty and compressed. Classic Memphis phonk, by contrast, is slower (80–100), with 1990s Memphis rap vocal samples and cassette-style drums. Variants: cowbell in continuous sixteenths in the drop, 808 with octave slides, rolled clap at the end of the loop.