Los Angeles maverick Flying Lotus has spoken about the explosive growth of instrumental hip hop.
After two decades of gangstas, bling and ever decreasing artistic merit a series of hip hop producers have turned the genre on its head. Artists across the globe ripped out the rhymes and focussed on production, transforming instrumental hip hop into both a valid and groundbreaking genre.
Speaking to ClashMusic, Flying Lotus highlights the work – and untimely death – of J Dilla as a major factor in this. “One of the things that really got people going was Dilla’s passing away” he explained.
“After that a lot more people were open to his music and searching it out. I definitely have a cult following. There’s definitely that. There’s definitely some folks listening, I didn’t expect that but I aint gonna complain now.”
Continuing, the producer insisted that he did not feel the music had been changed to make it more popular. “I don’t think that people made it accessible for nerds. When we started hitting people with computers then it was like, ‘Oooh, maybe I can go to the show too?’ I don’t know; it’s a funny question.”
With different styles taking hip hop in different ways, Flying Lotus finished by telling ClashMusic that there was still a unifying thread. “There’s a unifying thread in there somewhere isn’t there? The fact that people are getting into this thing encourages me to lead them in further into the imagination without holding back. I feel that if they get with this thing then I can really give it to them next time.”
Read the entire interview HERE.
