"How 'Lofi Hip Hop Radio to Relax/Study to' Became a YouTube Phenomenon". "How the SP-404 Came to Dominate the Global Beat Scene".
#Lo fi hip poducer full#
In April 2020, MTV News noted, "there might be something to be said for lo-fi hip-hop's composition, and the way its creators mix simplistic melodies with a judicious use of words to create intense memories, feelings, and nostalgia" and stated that the quarantine in place in various countries "has led people to log more hours online due to boredom or virtual workplaces and schools, and livestreamed music performances are reaching their full potential". Viewership of lo-fi hip hop streams grew significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Winkie credited YouTube user Lofi Girl (formerly known as "ChilledCow") as "the person who first featured a studious anime girl as his calling card, which set up the aesthetic framework for the rest of the people operating in the genre". By 2018, Spotify's "Chill Hits" playlist had 5.4 million listeners and had been growing rapidly. These channels equally functioned as chatrooms, with participants often discussing their personal struggles. One DJ, Ryan Celsius, theorized that they were inspired by a nostalgia for the commercial bumpers used by Toonami and Adult Swim in the 2000s, and that this "created a cross section of people that enjoyed both anime and wavy hip-hop beats". By 2018, several of these channels had millions of followers. Most, if not all, of the content used in YouTube videos was primarily published on SoundCloud.
In 2017, a form of downtempo music tagged as "chillhop" or "lo-fi hip hop" became popular among YouTube music streamers. Spotify added to the popular "lo-fi beats" wave by generating "Spotified genres", including "Chill Hits", "Bedroom Pop" playlists, and promoting numerous "chill pop" artists. Compilation videos are also popular, combining the music with visuals that could take the form of recorded pedestrian walks through major cities like Tokyo, looping visuals from cartoons such as The Simpsons or Internet memes. In 2013, YouTube began hosting live streams, which resulted in 24-hour "radio stations" dedicated to microgenres such as vaporwave. The duo incorporated hip-hop grooves into their work and used vintage synthesisers and complex audio processing techniques to imitate the sounds of old educational videos and lo-fi mix tapes respectively. Lo-fi hip-hop's nostalgic aesthetic can also be traced back to the early work of Scottish electronic group, Boards of Canada. Another artist also often associated with the development of lofi is US rapper and producer J Dilla. The Japanese artist Nujabes, often called the "godfather of lofi hip hop", is also credited with driving lofi's growth with his contributions to the soundtrack for the popular anime Samurai Champloo. Among the early adopters of the 404 stood Jneiro Jarel, who is credited as the first artist to use SP-404 in an official release, after releasing Three Piece Puzzle in 2005. Vice contributor Luke Winkie suggested that "if there is one shared touchstone for lo-fi hip-hop, it's probably Madvillainy". The three mentioned beats were all composed using 303 and a tape deck. It was also in Brazil in 2002 where Madlib created "Rhinestone Cowboy", "Raid", and "Strange Ways" for his 2004 collaborative album with MF DOOM called Madvillainy. Roland SP samplers, particularly Boss SP-202, 303 and 404 were sporadically used by beatmakers and DJs since the early 2000s, but it was Madlib who arguably paid stronger attention to the SP samplers, after showcasing them at his Red Bull Academy lecture in Brazil in 2002.
Lo-fi hip-hop originated within the underground beatmaking hip-hop scene of the 2000s, particularly after the advent of Roland SP-303 and Roland SP-404 samplers, each of which featured the "lo-fi" effect as a separate button. Madlib, one of the progenitors of lo-fi hip-hop
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