PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 03: Will Smith attends Variety’s Creative Impact Awards and 10 Directors … [+]
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Lofi hip-hop is here to stay. The instrumental blend of traditional hip-hop and jazz has notably made its mark on Spotify, where the “Lofi Fruits” playlist by indie record label Strange Fruits Music alone attracts almost four million followers seeking mellow beats to help them focus, study, relax and sleep.
The music genre–represented by bands like ChilledCow, ChilledBeats, Chillhop Music and College Music–has also inspired a tight-knit community including the likes of Will Smith, who this past summer released his second quarantine mix–“Lo-Fi Summertime Beats to Social Distance To”–on YouTube.
As lofi hip-hop’s relaxing soundscapes continue to grow in popularity, they are debunking the unwritten rules of hip-hop and leading the music industry into new territory where new forms of music are likely to come about in 2021.
“My focus wasn’t necessarily on producing music myself and putting it out,” says Ryan Celsius, an established YouTube and lofi artist who, as a music fan, began following emerging artists by creating hip-hop playlists on YouTube before lofi began taking form in 2017. “It was really around this whole community, this idea that there is an entire ecosystem of music and artist interconnectivity that people weren’t aware of.”
Celsius, who was recently hired by Amuse indie record label and digital music distribution service to build the company’s lofi division, says that many lofi artists like Snøw, Monty Datta, smartface, M!NT and Homieunculus are now creating their own playlists, labels and merch. They are also hosting live events and leveraging social media platforms to engage with the genre’s steadily growing fanbase.
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The low barrier to entry and high accessibility and replay value of lofi hip-hop makes it a welcoming space for budding artists. Canadian singer and songwriter Isaiah Faber, known as Powfu, broke into lofi with his hit “Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head)” on TikTok where it totaled more than 4.1 billion plays during March and has been featured in more than 5.5 million videos this year.
Lofi hip-hop labels like Puebla Vista, Chill Children and Promoting Sounds are also expected to expand in the next year. Music producers are also exploring the space since discovering that, unlike traditional hip-hop music, lofi does not require collaborations with prominent–and expensive–rappers.
“Our engagement in lofi culture is a testament to the idea upon which Amuse was founded–to use music consumption data to find emerging independent artists,” says Diego Farias, co-founder and CEO of Amuse. “Over the past several years, our streaming data has shown lofi hip-hop artists resonating with audiences, even at a very early stage in their career…now lofi is exploding in popularity and creating new models for the music industry.”
As lofi hip-hop continues to debunk the unwritten rules of the music industry, Celsius explains that the “age of the superstar” will soon give way to new genres and ways of producing music. The industry is leaning towards a world in which music consumers are more concerned with the actual sound and accessibility of a beat rather than the method by which it was produced.
As new sonic standards takeover traditional music business rules, Celsius adds, new waves of artists and gatekeepers will come about. A more diverse creative space will actively flip the industry and provide new monetization opportunities and growth initiatives for most players. Major record labels will adapt successfully, he says, especially considering the opportunity to tap millions of loyal lofi listeners supplying streams.
ZOD1AC, an instrumental hip-hop artist based in Akron, OH who draws influences from a diverse mix of genres, including jazz, boom bap, ambient, shoegaze, downtempo and classical in addition to contemporary production styles, has found support in the lofi hip-hop community. His ties to other lofi artists grew stronger this year after lockdown abruptly put a pause on his prolific streak of new releases and live performances including opening for hip-hop record producer Blockhead.
“The pandemic caused me to focus more on reconnecting with the beat community on a deeper level,” ZOD1AC said. “I have since forged a close bond with many more musicians (beatmakers, MCs and instrumentalists), and I look forward to continuing to build upon the success we’ve found so far, as well as helping my colleagues in the scene to navigate the ever-evolving online ecosystems that come with the territory of being an artist.”
Celsius manages his own lofi channel, Ryan Celsius Sounds, with 507,000 subscribers on YouTube and 170,507 monthly listeners on Spotify. This year his streams jumped from 2.5k per day before lockdown to a daily average of 10k in July and 31k by November. This year he also worked with Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith’s Westbrook Inc. media venture this year to curate and mix the lofi hip-hop playlist featuring more than 36 artists to accompany Will’s summertime concept.
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