Everyone has their own nostalgic interpretations, after all. You, among millions of other listeners, can feel the nostalgia coursing through the music. Jazz chords deepen lo-fi melodies and bring a meditative quality through their lo-fi blend. The integration of the jazz genre draws in a more diverse audience into the mix. Adding a jazzy component to lo-fi incorporates a more relaxed feel to every beat. You may find yourself listening to some cafe background noises or rainfall to instill that lo-fi ambiance most fans look for. It ties everything together by blending those static, low-frequency hisses to give you the perfect trip down memory lane. With 70-80 beats per minute, the rhythm of lo-fi music can range from low to mid-tempo. To capture some authenticity, the beats are usually recorded live and sampled. This mainly comes in the form of drum loops. You might be wondering, what makes lo-fi music what it is? Well, it all comes down to its distinguished and unconventional characteristics. His interpretation has inspired several music artists like Joey BadA$$, among others, to freestyle their lo-fi tracks. It mixed traditional Japanese music with some contemporary hip-hop and graffiti beats. The ambiance he mastered in that soundtrack created an aesthetic that became highly sought after. What propelled him into worldwide fame was his involvement in the soundtrack for the anime TV series, Samurai Champloo. He pioneered the cross between hip hop and lo-fi, bringing boom-bap and his Chillhop into the scene. Nonetheless, we can’t talk about lo-fi without mentioning the one who started it all, Jun Seba.įamously known as Nujabes, Jun Seba is a Japanese hip-hop producer. In the 2010s, the entrance of modern lo-fi began in none other than the live-streaming giant, YouTube. It was mostly described as a DIY genre.Īs you can tell, lo-fi isn’t affixed to only one genre, rather it created concoctions of countless other genres, like hip-hop lo-fi and jazz lo-fi. The 1980s were more comfortable with lo-fi and didn’t necessarily describe it as low-quality or low-fidelity music.

The 1960s saw emerging band names, such as The Beach Boys, using mediocre band equipment. The commercial availability of the equipment needed for making lo-fi has drawn music lovers to create their own beats without breaking the bank. The inspiration behind lo-fi lies within its ease of production. A History of Lo-fiīack in the day, lo-fi music had a different term: ‘low-fidelity music.’ In the 1950s, saying ‘lo-fi’ was popularized. Touted for bringing a sense of belonging and nostalgic feel into its listeners, lo-fi has become the soundtrack of several people’s working and study sessions. Nonetheless, it bloomed into something much bigger a whole genre and culture. Lo-fi, technically speaking, is described as low-quality audio production, contrary to hi-fi. Popular Lo-fi Artists and Accounts Lo-fi in a Nutshell

Lofi music