Perfect for telework and staying at home! Recommended popular Lo-Fi hip hop tracks
Are you familiar with “Lo-fi Hip Hop,” a genre that quietly gained popularity among music fans online from the mid to late 2010s and now feels firmly established as its own category?
If you were intrigued by the thumbnail image from the representative YouTube music channel for lo-fi hip hop, “ChilledCow,” known for looping a scene from Studio Ghibli’s film Whisper of the Heart, you certainly weren’t alone—there were quite a few people who noticed it even back then.
Sampling old jazz and soul, the beats brimming with a chilled vibe are widely loved not only by hip-hop listeners but also as background music for getting work done.
This time, we’ve researched classic tracks by key artists and will introduce them in a beginner-friendly way!
Perfect for telework and time at home! Recommended popular Lo-Fi Hip Hop tracks (1–10)
skateboard pElijah Who
The connection between lo-fi hip-hop and Japanese anime is well-known, with many tracks using footage from various Japanese anime or sampling them as sources.
In the Polish-based beatmaker Elijah Who’s track “Skateboard P,” footage from the nationally beloved anime film Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro is prominently used.
Although Elijah Who is popular within the lo-fi hip-hop scene, this particular track is a remix of “Skateboard P,” released in 2017 by the uniquely backgrounded rapper MadeinTYO—born in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in Japan—featuring Big Sean.
As such, it takes a different route from standard lo-fi hip-hop that typically pulls samples from classic jazz and soul.
Even so, it’s interesting that it consistently weaves in a nostalgic melody.
SoulfulL’indecis
L’indécis is one of the genre’s emblematic and pioneering artists in lo-fi hip hop, earning high praise for physically releasing original albums.
Based in France, L’indécis has a signature track called “Soulful,” an astonishing piece that has surpassed 40 million views on YouTube and even drew attention when Will Smith used it as background music on Instagram.
There’s no doubt it’s a classic of lo-fi hip hop, but its wistful guitar arpeggios and solos, nostalgic atmosphere, and mellow vibe are sure to appeal to Japanese listeners.
The refined track-making, sprinkled with a touch of playfulness, also makes it highly recommended for fans of beautifully melodic electronica.
If you like this track, be sure to pick up “PLAYTIME & PLETHORIA,” released on CD in 2019.
5:32PMThe Deli
This track by a Texas-born beatmaker is striking, with visuals composed of pixel art that evoke a curious sense of nostalgia.
Released on YouTube’s music channel “Dreamwave” in 2016, it boasts over 18 million views.
It originally appeared on Vibes Vol.
2, released in 2014, which means he was making music like this quite early on.
The jazzy atmosphere—showing the influence of great beatmakers such as J Dilla, a near-deity in lo-fi hip-hop, as well as Pete Rock and Madlib—fits perfectly with a chill, twilight vibe, just as the title suggests.
The sample source is said to be Darn That Dream from the classic album Undercurrent by the legendary duo Bill Evans and Jim Hall, clearly conveying the artist’s love for jazz.
Monday LoopTomppabeats
It’s only about a minute long, but it’s a classic, quintessential lo-fi hip-hop track that seems to pack in all the genre’s fundamentals.
“Monday Loop,” released in 2015 by Tomppabeats from Helsinki, Finland, boasts over 1.2 million plays on YouTube alone.
It’s been included on lo-fi hip-hop compilations as well, making it a staple and a fan favorite.
The sampling of a languid female vocal is striking—that comes from American legendary singer and actress Doris Day.
The track quotes the 1949 popular song “Again,” and among the many artists who have covered it, Doris Day’s recorded version is particularly well known.
The sample is composed mostly of humming, and although Doris’s sung voice appears only for a brief moment in the intro, that very restraint makes it all the more memorable, showcasing Tomppabeats’s musical sensibility.
crush on uBSD.U
It’s an ambitious track that boldly samples two very different songs: a 1986 release by soul singer-songwriter Phyllis Hyman, and the smash hit “Crush on You” that the so-called queen of hip-hop, Lil’ Kim, dropped in 1996.
Created by a Vancouver-based beatmaker and released in 2014, it’s a piece born in the very early days of lo-fi hip-hop, as the timing suggests.
He’s sometimes regarded as a figure just behind the most important artists in the lo-fi hip-hop scene—like J Dilla and Nujabes—and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him an indispensable beatmaker in the history of the genre.
Listening again, you can really hear how, while using the fundamental methods of lo-fi hip-hop, the texture of the sound and the approach to sampling set this apart from the artists who followed.