What happened to trip hop?

Trip-hop is an experimental blend of hip hop with (acid) jazz, reggae and dub which was the alternative and atmospheric sound of the 90s and early 2000s. Its prominence in alternative cultures began to fizzle out, and by the 2010s trip-hop was no longer in favour, with its original artists abandoning the sound to move onto new, and inevitably nowhere near as cool, styles.

Although the fusion style of trip-hop has filtered through to current artists such as FKA Twigs, The Internet and more alternative hip-hop and R&B artists, but the pure atmospheric and introspectiveness of trip-hop seem to long behind us.

Entering the 2010s left us boxing up lava lamps and 3 quarter-length combat trousers as well as trip-hop (which is the only unnecessary sacrifice out of the three). 

 Trip-hop is still consumed and enjoyed by its original audience but has sifted through to a younger hip-hop audience, who have an appreciation for its chilled, textured beats and ambient vocals. Current alternative hip-hop and R&B variants are a gateway back to the 90s, refuelling a demand for trip-hop which is interesting considering that in the 90s, for many commercial-type listeners trip-hop would be a gateway into the world of hip-hop.

 The Bristol Sound is a pretty undocumented music movement, perhaps because of its short-lived nature, its illusiveness contributing to its disappearance. 

Bristol’s multiracial background made it a vibrant place and a hub of creativity which encouraged the merging of influence. Massive Attack’s broad taste in music, shaped this hybrid sound, made up of its member's personal tastes covering different bases, Grant ‘Daddy G’ Marshall’s taste was reggae and soul, Andrew ‘Mushroom’ Vowels was into hip hop and Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja covered the other genres but with the additional influence of punk and rock music.  The Bristol Sound’s amalgamation of cultural and musical influence characterised triphop's eclectic sound. 

The eclectic quality of trip-hop means it could continue essentially forever and still create new-sounding compositions, yet its parents abandoned it, Portishead’s last album was made in 2008 and Massive Attack’s in 2010, thus commencing trip-hop’s eminent demise. 

American producer, DJ Shadow coined the term in a 1994 interview with Maxman, the name comes with some controversiality as certain artists synonymous with the genre have refused, they come under the umbrella of trip-hop. Pioneers of the style; Massive Attack and Portishead both label their music as ‘Bristol sound’ and deny the trip-hop label despite still being associated with it and its birth.  Bonobo and Nightmares on Wax are two examples of originally trip-hop producers who continue to make music but have ventured away from it and into house and club music. It is hard to understand why most trip-hop artist left their roots behind to explore new forms of music or quit music altogether.

Current fusion music like Psychedelic R&B from the likes of Childish Gambino, Green Tea Peng and Kaytrananda and Jazz Rap from artists such as Loyle Carner and Reiji Snow prove that the trip-hop style still sounds entirely up to date and in tune with alternative music now.  

Trip-hop or the Bristol Sound is a mysterious genre, not only because of its illusiveness but the actual sound it produced, for instance, Portishead’s 1994 critically acclaimed debut album which encompassed a cinematic style that was reminiscent of spy movie soundtracks. Massive Attack adopted this cinematic style (less spy movie-esque), a few years prior to Portishead, in 1991 with Blue Lines. The debut made Massive Attack a kind of enigma, it made people question as to how 3 untrained musicians without a musical background could create this sound.

The Bristol Sound had a DIY initiative that allowed artists to create music in a new way, not needing everything musicians needed before by utilising electronic music and clever sampling.