Lo-fi

Woke up to the chill breeze sneaking through the window left open this morning. As I got up to close it, the room was already filled with a refreshing coolness. Instead of shutting it, I slipped on a fleece jacket and cozied up on the sofa, right where the breeze was coming in. My body instantly cooled down, proving the Mpemba effect⁽¹⁾ to be true, and it felt pretty amazing. This is the perfect moment for some lo-fi tunes.

Lofi (Low fidelity) is a term opposing Hi-Fi, and it literally means music with degraded, low-quality sound. These days, making low-quality tracks is actually quite hard since most outputs are produced digitally.

Especially in hip-hop, beats are usually crafted by programming electronic drums or using pre-made beats, layered with digital mixes. This means there’s barely any hiss or noise from analog recordings. Even when instruments are used, they’re mostly digital. Musicians often mix in white noise or the crackling sound of a needle on an LP to create that intentional lo-fi effect.

Lo-fi hip-hop is like addictive background music with simple kick drum beats and short repeating melody lines. Its origins trace back to the bubble era around Shibuya in Japan. These experiments with melodies over hip-hop beats evolved into a fusion genre under the keyword ‘Mellow’, combining Funk, Jazz, and Rock. Alongside city pop, this genre gained global popularity, thriving in the underground scene.

During this era, there was a hip-hop DJ producer named Nujabes (a reverse of his real name, Seba Jun) who gained immense popularity by blending hip-hop beats with soulful jazz melodies. He even contributed to the OST of the Japanese anime Samurai Champloo, which was critically acclaimed and helped him gain more recognition in the underground scene. The tracks, being mostly like background music, became the epitome of lo-fi hip-hop.

If you’re into lo-fi hip-hop, the image of a scene from a Japanese Ghibli animation – especially with a character seemingly studying – probably pops into your mind. This is because DJs introducing this genre often use Japanese animation for album covers or videos on YouTube or SoundCloud. It’s become a lo-fi hip-hop cliché, likely starting from the aesthetic tracks of Nujabes being featured in anime like Samurai Champloo. Since the OSTs are mostly instrumental, they make perfect light listening while studying. 📚

ChilledCow, a famous lo-fi hip-hop DJ on YouTube and Spotify, also reflects this with his live hip-hop radio titled ‘lofi hip hop radio – beats to relax/study to’. The word ‘study’ is a staple in these titles. Personally, I find myself tuning in more while I’m zoning out rather than studying… 😌

^{(1) Mpemba effect: The phenomenon where hot water freezes faster than cold water}