trip hop

Downtempo electronic fusion

Trip hop is a music genre that emerged from Bristol, England in the early 1990s, blending hip-hop beats with atmospheric, downtempo electronic production.

The sound typically features slow breakbeats, deep bass, samples from jazz and soul, and often melancholic or ethereal vocals.

Massive Attack, Portishead, and Tricky defined the genre's moody, cinematic aesthetic.

The term itself—a play on hip-hop—was initially resisted by the artists it described.

atmospheric

downtempo

Slow, atmospheric electronic music

  • etherealDelicate beyond earthly measure
  • moodyProne to sullenness
  • dreamyVague and pleasantly distracted

haunting · melancholic · brooding · nocturnal · shadowy · cinematic · murky · hypnotic · smoky · noir

scene

Bristol

Major English seaport

acid jazz

production

sampling

Extracting subset for study

lo-fi · layering · soundscapes · vinyl · chopped · filtered · reverb · echo · manipulation · programming

rhythm

breakbeat

Sampled percussive rhythm pattern

groove · loop · drum machine · shuffle · tempo · swing · percussion · backbeat · polyrhythm · laidback

Categories
Opposites
tempo and energy

trip hopdrum and bass

Fast electronic music genre

gabber · jungle · trance · techno · hardstyle

mood and atmosphere

trip hopbubblegum pop

Catchy, lightweight youth music

teen pop · disco · funk · dance-pop · reggae

production approach

trip hopacoustic music

Sound without amplification

unplugged · live recordings · folk music · singer-songwriter · punk rock

Family

trip, hop, trips, tripping, hopping, hops, hopped, tripped, road trip

Familiarity
Top 500,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Rated G