2018 was the end of an era, marked by the departure of numerous hip hop artists from the site. Once one of the largest movements on Audiotool, lofi has yet to see a resurgence, with the once beloved and sought after style fading into the background. Who were these artists? What inspired them to create in this style? Let's take a closer look and uncover this forgotten world.

>>Examining the art of sampling<<

One of the most misunderstood artforms in music is likely the art of finding and manipulating samples from one form into that of another. Often generalized as low effort, there is quite a bit more here than meets the eye. Not everything sounds good as a sample. These artists can tell you the struggles of searching for hours through catalogues of music to find something that jumps out. There is a certain air of nostalgia to finding older songs that can carry their own weight when cut to a loop; far more so than creating it by ones' self in many instances. Sampling played an integral role in the lofi movement on Audiotool.

Before we begin, we must ask: what is lofi?

Lofi (low fidelity) hip-hop is characterized by audio imperfections, drums offset from the grid, nostalgic melodies and sample manipulation. There is often a simplistic beauty to the tracks, more is less and there is no fear of repetitiveness. An inferenced goal may be to create music for the background, ensuring everything stays subdued in the mix. Lofi sampling often slows down, chops and stutters loops to an easy to follow and sonically pleasing progression.

Now that we know what it is, we can look at when we first started to see it on Audiotool. The bump [adultswim] movement first gained traction in 2014, and continued to gain momentum until it's first major breakthrough in popularity in early 2016. These beats had heavy sidechain, sampled loops and an imperfect mix, contributing to the reason nearly anyone could make it. Often accompanied by Japanese animation art or grainy and blurry covers, the goal was clear; they wanted someone to feel an emotion by listening. By late 2016 it was almost inescapable on the site, with artists of various genre's trying their hand at this production type. During this time is when the niche truly formed, and several artists had dedicated their entire efforts to making exclusively this genre.

Below you will find a compilation of low fidelity hip hop beats made by numerous Audiotool artists. There are 5 tracks from each artist that at one point called this style their own. Each one has been picked specifically for it's emulation of the lofi genre. In the instance that an artist does not have 5 tracks available or that can best represent the genre, I have only included one or two. Not every artist here interpreted it in the same way, but their influences were clear. The most genre appropriate beat tapes are compiled at the bottom as well.

This is Audiotool Lofi in it's purest form. Please take the time to appreciate these tracks in the collection below, and leave your thoughts in the comments.