Trip hop is a music genre that refers to a musical trend that began in the mid-1990s of downtempo electronic music and grew out of England’s hip hopand house scenes, including the Bristol underground scene. It has been described as “Europe’s alternative choice in the second half of the ’90s”, and a fusion “of Hip-Hop and Electronica until neither genre is recognizable.”

Trip hop originated in the mid-1990s in Bristol, England, during a time when American hip hop started to gain increasing popularity in Europe along with the then well established House music and dance scene.[citation needed] British DJs decided to put a local spin on the international phenomenon and developed hip hop into a different style, marking the birth of trip hop[citation needed]. Originators in Bristol modified hip hop by adding a laid-back beat(“down tempo”) – Bristol’s signature sound in hip hop (trip hop’s predecessor) was characterized by its emphasis on slow and heavy drum beats and a sound drawing heavily on acid jazz, Jamaican and dub music.[citation needed] Under the influence of American hip hop from the 1980s both black and white British youth became consumers of hip hop[citation needed]. Hip hop in the UK was immediately fused with black soul and elements of dancehall.