History of Lofi Hip-hop
Lofi hip-hop is a relatively young genre pioneered by internet users and hip-hop producers. It is unlike other genres in the way that most people listening to it don't always know who the producer is or what the song is called. Most of the listening that occurs is in the background, in the subconscious. The genre has lots of specific imagery attached to it like anime and retro graphics. To those looking at it without prior experience with the genre, it can all seem very random and lacking cohesiveness.
To understand lofi hip-hop, you can break it down into two parts: lofi and hip-hop. Lofi is the concept of purposely adding imperfections to the music. Standing for “low fidelity”, it creates the nostalgic emotional aspect of the music. This is important for the genre because this is what brings the sense of warm comfort. Common techniques to evoke this low fidelity effect are vinyl crackles or low-frequency cuts. Hip-hop is more self-explanatory. Repetitive drum beats and simplistic melodies fade into the background allowing listeners to focus on their task, avoiding distractions.
These two concepts seem to blend together perfectly, but how did that happen? Who had the idea to purposely add imperfections to their hip-hop beats? This actually comes from the origins of hip-hop itself. Hip-hop was first made as a DIY style, with artists recording their own mixtapes in their shoddy recording booths. Naturally, top-tier production can’t be expected from someone making beats by themselves in their garage, hence the low fidelity sound.
The next puzzling aspect of the genre is the anime imagery. It’s questionable how the inherently American genre of hip-hop was influenced by Japanese culture. The most definable reason for this is hip-hop producer Jun Seba, more commonly known as “Nujabes”. Nujabes was a Japanese producer known for his hip-hop beats. He made a name for himself scoring the popular anime film: “Samurai Champloo”. He proceeded to release two studio albums combining American hip-hop and more traditional Japanese sounds.
With all the aspects of lofi hip-hop coming together, the thing that finally boosted it into the mainstream was 24/7 YouTube live streams. With the genre becoming more popular, these livestreams exploded in popularity, racking in thousands of viewers at any given time. The sense of community and friendship combined with the chill atmosphere makes these livestreams so desirable for studying, doing work or just relaxing.
Lofi hip-hop is an amalgamation of different genres and concepts that came together at the perfect time and place for people who needed music to relax.
https://medium.com/@victoriavouloumanos/an-exploration-of-lo-fi-hip-hop-925118824631
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