Bo Diddley broke new ground in rock and roll's formative years with his unique guitar work, indelible African rhythms, inventive songwriting, and larger-than-life persona. He will forever be known for popularizing one of the foundational rhythms of rock and roll: the Bo Diddley beat. He employed it in his namesake song, "Bo Diddley," as well as other primal rockers like "Mona." This distinctive, African-based 5/4 rhythm pattern (which goes bomp-bomp-bomp bomp-bomp) was picked up from Diddley by other artists and has been a distinctive and recurring element in rock and roll through the decades.