Do you know Lofi Hip-hop? You know, that music genre that usually makes you relaxed, your friend for your study session for that exam tomorrow, or a company for your sad nights *insert pouring oil over fire gif as a metaphor to fix your problems here*. A chilling beat that seeps deep into your soul that hits even further when it rains outside. Basically, mellow stuff.
If you search LoFi Hip-hop on YouTube, you will find most of the thumbnails are hand drawn cartoon and mostly are anime styled. If they’re not hand drawn, the thumbnails are characters taken from classic animes such as Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo. Another option is a looping scene taken from animovies of Ghibli Studio, Mamoru Hosoda’s, or Makoto Shinkai’s. Ever wonder what is the connection between LoFi and anime? In my own hypothesis, I think it is merely because of the aesthetics that only an anime can convey to give the exact mood of the song. Honestly I can’t think of anything else and it makes me wonder. Is there some legit history behind all this? I tried to find some answers from real producers and composers of LoFi. Thankfully, I found someone on Reddit to explain it very nicely!
LoFi producer KisaiTheSpooniestBard here.
So, to kinda break it down in detail without meandering a lot, I’ll just list off my experience and how it relates to those of my peers with whom I’ve spoken on the topic.
A lot of us newer producers (Last 15–20 years maybe?) grew up watching Toonami. Toonami and lo-fi production have always had a symbiotic relationship. Everyone remembers those old promos with the deep space bass and Ol’ Tom’s soothing voice. Those grooves with the cuts from featured anime were huge to us. I myself cite Nujabes, Dilla and Psyche Origami as some of my biggest inspirations in that area.
The real “aha” moment came when Samurai Champloo came out and it featured Nujabes, Fat Jon, Tsutchie and Force of Nature on the score. That was major. The entire vibe of that show had it’s finger on the pulse of underground culture. And it wasn’t just boom-bap, either, there was elements of all sorts of production styles in there. Trance, nujazz, acid jazz, trip-hop, you name it. So many of us link those sounds with the happy nostalgia of watching anime at midnight-early morning alone or with like-minded friends.
We all just kinda groove off of anime and videogames in general. I, for one, am a diehard Final Fantasy fan. I’ve done 2 beat tapes dedicated to Squaresoft/SquareEnix works and am working on a third. We all just love our animus, man. It’s one of the few constants in a world that seems hell-bent on changing in dramatic ways. I doubt DJ ClarkNova knew he was gonna inspire an entire generation of weeb beatsmiths when he spun those late-night mix sessions with all those dope beats, but here we are. Haha.
Long story short, the trigger was the classic popular anime, Samurai Champloo (2006). Samurai Champloo featured our legend of jazzhop music, Nujabes. He passed away in 2010 because of car accident in Shibuya.
Samurai Champloo is an all-time favorite for anime fans. This anime mixes up feudal Japan with western hip-hop culture such as the hip-hop music itself, break dancing, and graffiti. Thus, the songs fits the anime so well. It has 2 seasons and a total of 26 episodes.
Here is his musics used in Samurai Champloo so you can understand how his jazzhop influence the LoFi culture deeply.
The sounds that Nujabes created instantly made people fell in love with him and made the viewer stayed to watch the show. Eventually, producers were inspired to make these kind of beats. They made the connection with Cowboy Bebop as their reference because Cowboy Bebop also featured jazz songs that similar with Nujabes. And also, Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo were both directed by Shinichiro Watanabe. No wonder they both are so good and almost identical!
More or less, this maybe the answer we’re looking for. Nujabes was the trigger of Lofi genre. His influence and his art lives on for a long time, eternally goes in loop within the community itself while making new things inspired from him. Hope the vibe of peace stays everyday with you! Much love from a fellow LoFi fan. ❤