

“Sometimes it’s genuine and sometimes it’s reluctant and we just can’t help it,” he adds. Whether or not listeners acknowledge it, that music quality is probably sentimental, says Travis. Most of these songs rely on a base and snare combination called boom bap, a hip hop sound invented in the 80s that is still associated with the era. Those iconic rhythms are also part of why the otherwise soothing music doesn’t lull you to sleep, Blackman says, and keep you focused on what you’re trying to do.įamiliarity is comforting, as is nostalgia - another feeling that hip hop lo-fi might stir up in a listener. Analyses show that between 19, the US Billboard Hot 100 songs with the most profound influences on pop music were hip hop. “Hip hop beats are the contemporary heartbeat of society,” writes Raphael Travis Jr., a social work researcher at Texas State University who studies how hip hop works in therapeutic settings, via email. Whether or not you know who started lo-fi hip hop, the rhythms in these YouTube channels sound familiar because they are integral to most music today. Most of the popular YouTube channels are specifically lo-fi hip hop, a genre pioneered by black musicians like J Dilla. These can be combined with other intentional sounds that feel “like hearing music come through the walls,” says Elliot Gann, a psychologist and the executive director of Today's Future Sound, an organization that brings therapeutic beat-making and listening to after-school programs. This includes environmental sounds that make it onto the track, like kids playing outside or the rustling of papers. “Lo-fi” itself can apply across genres, as the term speaks to how music is recorded. “I felt like I had found home,” she says, remembering asking herself, “ there are other artists thinking like me, feeling how I feel?”īesides the sense of belonging, experts say the appeal of lo-fi hip hop lies in the music itself - how the tunes feel and what they remind us of. State Department, felt back when she first heard it decades ago. That’s how Toni Blackman, a musician, artist, teacher and the first hip-hop ambassador to the U.S. Those connecting to lo-fi hip hop for the first time, whatever the format, instantly feel some sense of community. Listeners from around the world let the livestream play for hours on end, and the channels have boomed in popularity during the pandemic. On YouTube channels like ChillHop music or Dream圜ow, however, those “mistakes” become an intentional part of the listening experience. “Lo-fi” means “low-fidelity,” a term for music where you can hear imperfections that would typically be considered errors in the recording process. If you want, you can tune in and let the subtle, complex and soothing rhythms set the tempo for whatever you’re doing.

Lo-fi music streams are drawing millions of listeners on YouTube.
#Lofi hip hop tv#
To everyone that wants a soundtrack to their lives just like all their favorite TV characters have, you’re in luck.
