So that’s pretty much it. Those are some of my favorite songs on the album and why I enjoy them so much, but you might be asking yourself “yeah this is great and all but how did this really affect hip hop?” I’m glad you asked. Before we start talking about Lofi Hip-Hop I think it’s important to distinguish between impersonation and influence. Artists like Madlib, J Dilla, and Nujabes certainly influenced what eventually lofi hip hop but they absolutely did not make lofi hip-hop. While this may sound like a dig to the popular sub-genre it's just a fact that what artists like the 3 I named were doing in the early 2000s was beyond what artists are doing in the LHH genre now. LHH is often regarded as a genre so simple that it’s beautiful. It’s not about shoving every sample or new drum pattern or vocal sample into one song but rather making a relatively short and sweet song that touches on the parts of peoples brains that evoke nostalgia or serenity. The whole reason this genre took off as a perfect definition of “chill beats to study to” is because they are simple enough to enjoy in the background while you do something else. This isn’t necessarily the type of music that Nujabes was making at the time. While personally I'm of the mindset that you can put practically any song or album on the background and still enjoy it Modal Soul has many intricacies and little tidbits in the songs that you can specifically listen for and enjoy. The songs have a lot more soul and less programmed than what you’d hear today, part in thanks to the use of elaborate sample chopping and instrumentation help from long term collaborators like Uyama Hiroto. My main point is to try and draw a line in the sand between the inspiration that he had on the genre and the fact that the music he was making was nothing like it in a sense. But with that being said let’s talk.

Lofi Hip Hop really came into popularity in main part due to artists exactly like Nujabes. Songs like Feather, Arurian Dance, and Counting Stars are great examples of this sampling style and production techniques. The low fidelity unquantized and generally messy style of production is what gave his production the human error feel to his songs. I think nowadays most of us are so accustomed to these perfect on beat drums and robotic kicks and snares that we tend to forget that that’s not really how music has been played or listened too for thousands of years. We can hear it songs like Over The Breaks by J Dilla or Pyramids by Madlib, and while Nujabes didn’t explicitly say he listened to a lot of artists like these I think it's safe to say that their styles certainly intersected with each producer branching off relying on the styles of music that were popular in their respective locations. Around late 2015 this style of music really began to pop off. With youtube channels like ChilledCow and Jazz Hop Cafe really beginning to take off particularly amongst a younger generation. And something that I really think people don’t touch on as often and I often see being questioned is why exactly anime is so directly tied to the sub-genre. And while they’re certainly a few reasons that are better left for another time one of the biggest influences was absolutely Nujabes and his work with anime. His music was heavily used in “Samurai Champloo,” an anime all about blending the history of Japan with modern influences like hip hop. His music was one of the major factors of the anime being so accessible outside of Japan and another reason why Nujabes grew to have so many fans outside of the country.

Almost every prominent creator of the genre has credited Nujabes as being an inspiration and in cases why they even became producers in the first place. Jinsang, tomppabeats, potsu, and more credit Nujabes as an influence and it really shows in their music. Without Nujabes there really is a strong chance that this sub-genre wouldn’t have been as successful as it is now. And with the genre being as popular as ever there really is only one person to credit and we’re talking about him in this very article.