Lofi Hip Hop: The What and Why
Disclaimer: The term “lofi” will be used frequently. In this article, the term refers exclusively to lofi hip hop.
In the past few months, I have become increasingly enthralled by a relatively new form of downtempo “chill-out” music. It’s name is “lofi hip hop” (or “lo-fi hiphop”, depending on who you ask), and has recently garnered attention from popular media organizations such as Vice, Mashable, and Genius.
If you happen to frequent YouTube in search of music — particularly background or ambient tunes — you may stumbled upon one of the many lofi/chillhop/jazzhop livestreams or mixes that have dominated the platform as of late. In fact, a quick search of “study music” at the time of writing, returned five of said videos in just the top 10 results. Moreover, four out of those five belonged to a new brand of “chill” livestream, the popularity of which is largely attributed to the success of YouTuber ChilledCow’s “lofi hip hop radio — beats to relax/study to”.
Take a brief listen to the video above. What are your first impressions? Did you notice anything odd? The first comparison I often hear people make upon hearing lofi music for the first time, is to that of an old vinyl record. As you may have guessed, this is completely intentional. In fact, the very word “lofi” implies low quality, or low fidelity. However, deeper analysis will reveal many other common elements. Lofi hip hop is often built up from a variety of “samples”, typically featuring a rather simplistic drum beat, accompanied by an acoustic loop of some sort, and rounded off with ambient noise, hi-hats, and an occasional vocal clip or two. Of course, this a very general description of what you might find in your average lofi beat. But if you happen to think that this music doesn’t seem all that difficult to make, you are not alone. Because a song of this nature can be so easy to throw together in your average audio software, many have expressed their disapproval of the genre as a legitimate art form. In a thread posted ten months ago on “r/LofiHipHop”, grandeursounds (an alleged lofi producer themself) claims that it is not uncommon for some self-proclaimed lofi artists to exert minimal effort on their music:
As I continue to produce lofi beats and send them to people, I start to notice how little creativity and actual uniqueness most lofi beats have. For example, most of the beat rides on finding a dope sample. Once you have borrowed somebody else creation for the backbone of your music, you spend 10 minutes making a super super super simple drum loop with 4 or 5 parts to it. After some effects and mixing, you’re basically done.
In a similar vein, other YouTubers and Musicians have parodied the stereotypical process of lofi hip hop production, such as Syed Shaheryar’s video entitled How every lofi hiphop song is made and how to make it. In the video, Shaheryar rather humorously illustrates how some lofi hip hop songs are made by amateurs who simply remix well made tracks by other artists.
No doubt, this holds true for some lofi content floating around on YouTube and SoundCloud. However, there are many producers who make excellent music, use their own samples, employ legitimate audio engineering, and make positive contributions to the lofi scene. While it is popular to belittle these artists, I believe that this style has both artistic and cultural significance in our modern society. From Jazz to Electro Pop, music is fundamentally an expression of emotion. Lofi hip hop is essentially concerned with eliciting a sensation of comfort — particularly in those who grew up in the 90’s and early 2000’s. It is no coincidence that so many of us are drawn to this music, which intentionally evokes imagery of vintage eras, encourages introspection through hypnogogic rhythm, and invites us to enter a trance-like state.
I asked the community on r/LofiHipHop to give some reasons why they loved the genre; here are just a few of their answers:
Nostalgia — Samples and visual art accompaniment that reference 90s TV shows/videogames/movies etc. (even hand-drawn art that represents that of the era, like the tape player in the sub’s sidebar). Also, this dream-like sound that’s present in a lot of it or the trance-inducing beats used which immerses the listener in the world of this music/art.
these beats take me back to real old school hip hop days and like the real gritty rawness of the beats its just guys having fun[…]it really reminds me of the old toonami beats late night and i just love the vibe.
Everything about it. The smooth jazzy piano, the beats, the deep introductions. Lofi brings old music and modernizes it perfectly.
I think lofi represents a mental state for a lot of young people (teens — 30's). A lot of us experience mental health issues including depression and lofi kind of represents those thoughts and feelings musically; with gritty drums, rain or static background noise, faded samples, and sad or nostalgic vocal samples.
I grew up in jazz band so I was always drawn to jazz-influenced music. Beyond that, I think its a genre that offers room for a lot of eclectic sounds and progression. It seems like everyday i hear a new beat with unique style or sounds (although I have to dig).
Perhaps you’ll notice a theme emerge. It appears that this style (or A E S T H E T I C for you veterans), has captured some ideal combination of nostalgia and escapism not found elsewhere. Chillhop YouTuber Ryan Celsius echoed this sentiment in the previously mentioned Vice article, stating that “an entire generation of people were influenced by the smooth beats and trippy or relaxing background aesthetic of early 2000’s Adult Swim”. And I would have to agree. Looking back on some of adult swim’s iconic commercial bumpers, there is an uncanny similarity between the music featured there and the modern lofi sound.
This statement is only emboldened by the major influence that artists Nujabes, JDilla, and hip hop duo Madvillain (all primarily active in the late 90’s and early 2000’s) have had on the lofi scene. These three are frequently cited as the grandfathers of modern lofi hip hop, and it is not hard to see why. Each created a unique sound which is now reflected in almost every lofi track made today. Nujabes (which is just Jun Seba, his real name, backwards) might also be a major reason why we see such an intimate pairing of lofi hip hop and Japanese culture. Seba was natively Japanese and made massive contributions to the soundtrack of the critically acclaimed anime series Samurai Champloo. When Toonami began airing the anime, it introduced the unique sound to a western audience and, to quote Celsius again, “created a cross section of people that enjoyed both anime and wavy hip-hop beats”. Hence we see the imagery of Japanese animation being used abundantly throughout the lofi hip hop community and, more recently, audio clips from various anime being inserted intermittently throughout tracks (another trend parodied in Shaheryar’s satirical video).
Amongst contemporary artists, a few individuals have begun to release very lofi-esque albums and singles. Joji and Chester Watson immediately come to mind as relatively successful artists who have incorporated elements of the genre in their songs. However, there is practically an infinite well of this content to be heard on YouTube and SoundCloud. Furthermore, r/LofiHipHop has a plethora of excellent suggestions from every spectrum of the style.
It’s hard to say where this sound, so popular on the fringe of the internet, will end up in coming years. While many suggest that it will persist as an underground art form alone, I assert that there is a real possibility of lofi hip hop moving into mainstream music production. Lofi beats allow the mind to drift and provide a much needed escape from the slog of the week. As more and more people are introduced to the style, I believe new and old artists will push the lofi scene to evolve and refine this diamond in the rough into a class of it’s own. Until then, however, those of us already ingrained in the niche will enjoy our V I B E S in peace.
