Lofi hip hop the new Trend of 2021

Lofi hip-hop is absolutely in 2021, labels like Puebla Vista, Chill Children, and Promoting Sounds are expected to expand in the next year. Music producers are also exploring the lofi hip-hop 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.