Perfect for work BGM too! Recommended Lo-Fi Hip Hop classics

Ji-Eun’s SunsetCity Girl

Ji-Eun’s Sunset

City Girl’s “Neon Impasse,” characterized by cute, anime-like BGM vibes, is perfect for a little relaxation time.

Although based in California, she seems highly attuned to Japanese pop culture, as evidenced by the manga- and anime-inspired illustrations she has used on the covers of all her releases since her 2017 debut.

She even describes her own music as “soft music for cat lovers,” showing her commitment to cuteness.

Its urban, cool sound seems like a great match for nighttime atmospheres.

Againwun two

Again

One-two, who has been active in this genre since quite early on.

Even when he released his acclaimed 2014 album Penthouse, he says he wasn’t particularly conscious of “lo-fi” as a genre.

In fact, since he had been proactively making this kind of music since 2003, he finds it curious that hip-hop incorporating jazz—like A Tribe Called Quest and Wu-Tang Clan had done since the 1990s—has only drawn special attention in recent years.

He also notes that the nostalgic music built on gritty textures simply sounded that way because of the limitations of the equipment used.

As a foundational figure in the genre, One-two remains unpretentious, delivering music you can relax to while driving or spending time outdoors.

Pelican PartyIan Ewing

Pelican Party

Promising newcomer Ian Ewing views his own music less as lo-fi hip-hop and more as ambient and electronic music.

On his 2019 release Lakehouse, the vocals and the tones of his own electric piano playing shine, setting it apart from classic hip-hop.

He even turns everyday sounds into music, such as adding accompaniment to celebrities speaking in radio interviews to create finished pieces.

An artist with a distinctly creative bent, Ian casually refers to his work as “music you can find anywhere.”

m i s teevee

m i s t

Released in 2017, “seeds” is a nostalgic-feeling album by the Dutch artist eevee.

She began making music after turning 20 and doesn’t use traditional instruments.

It’s said that this album was created almost entirely with a single laptop and a sampler.

That said, in 2022 she released a vocal album under the name eevee & cliffe, showcasing a broader musical range.

The timbres and melodies of East Asian–style instruments create a poignant mood.

Listening to it evokes the Japanese rainy season, with a muted, muffled sound design.

Then, suddenly, you catch bossa nova or samba-like vocals, or a slightly warbled piano that sounds like it’s playing from a stretched cassette—an intriguingly constructed album.

Behind the guitar and flute tones, the drums and additional guitar remain deliberately understated.

The unadorned, stripped-down sound is like the wallpaper of an old coffee shop.

It’s the kind of work you’d want to enjoy with a cup of coffee on a gloomy day.

French InhaleBSD.U

french inhale

Beside You’s 2017 album Ligher hints at a fondness for Japanese culture, even in its artwork, which features titles and track names written in katakana and hiragana.

The artist is a smoker, and for this album they were inspired by a hard-boiled moment from the anime Cowboy Bebop, where a cool, world-weary man shows his character.

Beside You, who has been composing since the age of 14, says they prefer playing old video games at home to dancing in clubs.

Their style leans retro—evident in the release of an album on cassette in 2019.

The sound is gentle yet somehow melancholy.

With the acoustics tuned to make the low end resonate more deeply, the darker mood is emphasized.

Human voices are placed here and there as accents, making the album feel like a soundtrack to a drama or film.

And not so much to contemporary pop culture, but to something older—like what you’d catch on VHS or in TV reruns.

It’s a work you’d rather sink into in the evening or at night than on a bright morning or afternoon.

Play It AgainJoey Pecoraro

Joey Pecoraro – Play It Again [Audio]

Joey Pecoraro, who hails from Detroit, not only composes but also produces music.

While Detroit is also known as a mecca for techno, his 2018 release Music for Happiness follows old-school hip-hop techniques and is colored by a charming, almost childlike sound.

He has been heavily influenced by fellow Detroit legend J Dilla, and he says that when composing, he makes a point of carefully considering the roots of each and every sound source he uses.

SerenityKupla

Serenity

Evoking a world straight out of a Ghibli film, Kingdom in Blue is a masterpiece released in 2020 by Coopra.

Based in London and calling himself a nerdy dreamer, Coopra samples the soundtrack of Whisper of the Heart and performs keyboards and percussion to add depth and dimension to his ethereal music.

He’s an ambitious artist, known for streaming lo-fi hip-hop 24/7 on the famous YouTube channel formerly called ChilledCow and now known as Lofi Girl.