In this article let’s deep dive in the sub-genres of lo-fi music starting with lo-fi hip hop. From the previous articles you may already know what is lo-fi all about. You are familiar with lo-fi music in general either. So here we go.
Definition of Lo-fi Hip Hop
According to Wiki: “Lofi hip hop (also known as chillhop and lofi beats to study to) is a form of downtempo that combines elements of hip hop, chill-out music, and lofi music.”
I am not fully agreeing with it to be honest, but if you check the page linked above, not much of an extra to be found there. It states that lo-fi hip hop became popular in ’10 starting with the 24-hour radio stations on YouTube such as LoFi Girl (Chilled Cow before).
Finally, the article finishes that it became widely popular in 2017 among YouTube streamers and the godfathers of the genre are J Dilla and Nujabes.
About J Dilla and Nujabes
At this stage Wiki is quite misleading but let me try to sort it out from you based on a few thoughts of my own.
J Dilla was an underground hip hop artist and beat maker, who sadly died in early 2006 (vs becoming popular in 2017…). Furthermore, he was one of the pioneers of humanising machine music according several resources. On one side as he used Akai MPC samplers that offer more lo-fi-ish results we may indeed say he was producing lo-fi beats. But I do believe it was unintentional. He was not aiming to produce calming 85 bpm, almost vocalless beats, he was more experimenting the use of samplers to make them sound more human. Mixing it along with hip hop and performing with other artists throughout his career.
Fun fact: look for the term “lo-fi” on his Wiki page. You will find nothing. Again, just saying.
Nujabes could be more close to lo-fi hip hop I guess. I mean at least intentionally, though it would be lame mentioning that here Wiki authors were at least consequent and added “lo-fi hip hop” term to his page.
Anyways let us leave that part behind. From timeline perspective it is still misleading to see that he sadly died in 2010, though lots of posthumous releases since suggests his growing fame. As for the break point in his career, to my point of view was the OST of Samurai Champloo. An edo period anime with vinyl vibe hip hop beats OST produced by Nujabes himself.
Anime and Lo-fi Hip Hop
I strongly believe that being a successful anime as well as the love of anime OST fans meeting with a mixed hip hop genre offered growth for the genre. I would further add and it is part of the legacy already: the director of the anime is Shinichiro Watanabe. Even if the name might not ring the bell immediately, but if I add that he is the guy behind Cowboy Bebop (both the anime and the live action series on Netflix), also known for Space Dandy and Blade Runner: Black Lotus – he should ring a bell.
Now many fans to check previous works of a director and Cowboy Bebop anime is one of the most influential ones (even now available on Netflix). Therefore the views on Samurai Champloo is still growing. As a result more and more people to discover Nujabes as well.
Fun fact again, that the use of anime along with lo-fi music therefore was present in 2004 already. Even though it become more popular in the ’10s after more influential anime such as Cowboy Bebop became available worldwide.
Instruments used to produce Lo-fi Hip Hop
I recently wrote a long article on how to produce lo-fi music in general offering different solutions let it be with DAW, DAW-less or simply using your phone. I do not wish to reopen the topic here, read more here.
What I wish to cover here in the light of lo-fi hip hop is more the use of samplers in the genre. Samplers are digital instruments that records actual instruments (or music bits) and also able to chop them and play them back in a programmed order.
It was trendy already in the ’90 but becoming widely used in the past 2 decades. Even though J Dilla was a fan of Akai MPC back then, in the past 15 years it is more Roland’s SP-404 to take the lead in front of any other samplers.
Even though a sampler will never limit the genre, still if we cover lo-fi music and DAWless music production, we often end up at SP-404.
Luckily enough Roland just released mark 2 version with tons of updated features but you may also lower costs at the beginning trying out Koala Sampler. A budget smartphone tool with similar workflow (clearly less possibilities, but 5 USD, hey!). I explain this in-depth here.
Summing it up. Lo-fi Hip Hop is a mix of Hip Hop music but not necessarily featuring vocals and rap in the beats. It is heavily influenced by J Dilla showing the artist that beats not quantised 100% may sound more human. Nujabes on the other hand pointed us that the use of vinyl as samples and the right way of mixing offers a bit of warmth to the beats. That makes the listener more relaxed. No wonder many to use lo-fi music genres as background beats, study music or work music.
Lo-fi Hip Hop and Chillhop
One further topic remained at my end that is a bit weird to me. According to Wiki (link on top) the 2 genres are the same. To my point of view it is not. Luckily this page shares my view.
In general chill music is originated from jazz, using many elements. Increased amount of piano play to be expected especially in the high pitched area (higher octaves). On the other hand lo-fi, coming from low fidelity degrades sound quality. The aim of lo-fi is to offer a bit of reminiscence, warm vibes and lower sound quality. Which is not going well with high pitched piano or crash. Also lo-fi music is working with lowered amount of bass (coming from the previously mentioned low fidelity) whereas some chillhop beats may use bass more casually.
At the end the two sub-genres are close to each other. I guess many artists are not making a difference between them along with the tons of YouTube mixes. Still worth knowing that the origins and purpose of these sub-genres are different.
Pages to check, artists to follow
Thanks for reading my article. I hope I could offer you a bit of more in-depth bunch of words on my thoughts on the genre. I consider myself as a lo-fi artist but less a lo-fi hip hop artist. If you are interested in my music, I am happy if you check out Chilling Ermines or Stay Home. Both were inspired by the artists covered above.
On the other hand the internet is full with great artists and places to read so here I go. This Reddit page is a great place to follow. I also keep following the guys, also reading what is up in the genre. The previously linked Tajima Hal is also a great fellow. An inspiring artist from Japan I am following for a while now. Eevee Beat from the Netherlands also offers you great amount of lo-fi hip hop on this Bandcamp page. Lastly, I would suggest you to check idealism’s page or simply surf on Bandcamp for the latest uploads.
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