I’m still not sure how I came across these, to be honest. I think I had just been surfing the web one night and needed some music to listen to. But lately they’ve been on my most-played – I’m talking about Youtube hiphop and chillhop mixes. These aren’t hard to find, and I’ll share some links at the end of the article. What’s bizarre about this article is I’m not really talking about any one artist or album – but more of the collection of videos that share this classification.

These tapes are fantastic late-night music, and I love putting them on while I’m doing chores or busy-work. As for what’s unique about them – there’s plenty of light piano sampling and jazzy rhythms. Mix in some beautiful spoken word passages and a couple of lines of dialogue from a movie, and these tapes often develop a gorgeous solitary atmosphere. Imagine sitting on a porch on a warm summer night while a little rain is drizzling, and that’s how I feel listening to these. It may be that they just recall some childhood memories of living in Missouri to me, but I think there’s something universal here for anyone to enjoy.

The first channel that really got me into this genre was ChilledCow, who also publishes their mixes on Soundcloud. Listening to these tapes really gives you the feel that this genre is a sort-of evolution of neo-80’s synthtronica mixed with the creativity and sampling freedom of bedroom DJ’s. It’s no secret than many of these mixes get DMCA notices, either – Youtube is a real stickler on music covers and mixes. Ironically, it gives these mixtape videos an ephemeral quality as well – you never know if a great one is going to be taken down. In an age of Spotify and Apple Music, it’s also refreshing to listen to tracks and artists you can’t find on streaming services.

There isn’t much else left to say, though. These mixes are best left to be explored and discovered on your own. They’re a lot of fun and enjoyable to listen to – to get you started, here’s a couple of my favorites from the past month: