HI
Hipster hop
Hipster hop (also known as hipster rap) is a term that was used by music bloggers and critics in the 2000s and early 2010s to describe hip hop music that was perceived to be influenced by the hipster
Characteristics#
Hipster hop is generally characterized as having a lighthearted mood. Miles Raymer of the Chicago Reader stated that “hipster rap embodies the same sort of utopian, big-tent ideal that old-school hip-hop did, treating the music as a force for bringing people together”. Hipster hop artists have also been described as having lyrical content ranging from the “emotionally vulnerable” to the “ironic or comedic”. Musically, the “hipster hop” label has been used to describe a wide variety of styles, ranging from “a sonic explorer like Kanye… to retro revivalists like the Cool Kids”.
History#
Artists such as Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, and Lupe Fiasco have been identified as forerunners of hipster hop. Sir Michael Rocks of the Cool Kids has stated that those three artists popularized the idea of being “an eclectic black guy”, thus creating a niche for other artists to expand the aesthetic boundaries of hip-hop. The terms “hipster hop” and “hipster rap” declined sharply in the 2010s, although they have occasionally been used to describe post-2010s artists such as Razzlekhan.
See also#
- Alternative R&B
- Neo soul
- Genre family
- 2000s in music, 2010s in music, Hip-hop genres