Trip-hop

Trip hop
Other names	Downtempo
Stylistic origins	Electronica hip hop breakbeat soul house dub funk jazz R&B ambient chill-out psychedelic lounge minimal alternative rock
Cultural origins	Early 1990s, Bristol, United Kingdom
Typical instruments	Keyboards (especially Rhodes) synthesizer samplers brass turntables strings guitar bass drums drum machines percussion saxophone flute
Subgenres
Illbient post-trip hop
Regional scenes
United Kingdom United States
Other topics
Bristol underground scene experimental hip hop neo soul nu jazz

Trip hop (sometimes called "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as "a fusion of hip hop and electronica until neither genre is recognizable," and may incorporate a variety of styles, including funk, dub, soul, psychedelia, R&B, and house, as well as other forms of electronic music. Trip hop can be highly experimental.

Deriving from later idioms of acid house, the term was first used by the British music media to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat emerging from the Bristol Sound scene in the early 1990s, which contained influences of soul, funk and jazz. It was pioneered by acts like Massive Attack, Tricky, and Portishead. Trip hop achieved commercial success in the 1990s, and has been described as "Europe's alternative choice in the second half of the '90s."

According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, the term "trip-hop" was coined in 1989, though it first appeared in print in June 1994; Andy Pemberton, a music journalist writing for Mixmag, used it to describe Mo Wax Records Artist (U.K.) RPM and (American) DJ Shadow's "In/Flux" single.

...
Wikipedia