Shiloh Dynasty and The Influence to Lo-fi Hip Hop Music Scene
Shiloh Dynasty, girl who don’t want to be known, create the booming of lo-fi hip hop scene
It has been 3 A.M and I could not sleep. So, I choose to grab my phone, open Youtube and search for Shiloh Dynasty. I find that it has turned to be really different from when I listened to Shiloh Dynasty back then in 2017. In 2017, I searched Shiloh Dynasty and only found her (I thought that she is male back then) song compilation, but now, I can find many lo-fi related stuff and also the remix version of Shiloh’s cover. There is even a video titled “Ｓｈｉｌｏｈ Ｄｙｎａｓｔｙ Ｃｈｉｌｌ Ｍｉｘ”. It means people finally recognize the existence of Shiloh Dynasty and her pure talent.
Some of you may know her or may be not. Ciara Nicole Simms, known as Shiloh Dynasty, is an indie songwriter-singer who rose from Instagram in 2015 and 2016. Actually, she started uploading her short-minimalist cover on Vine. Then she moved to Instagram on 2015 until mysteriously disappeared in late 2016. Back then, her existence was really questionable and some people thought that she has already died. She was really being a internet mystery back then (or maybe until now).
Shiloh Dynasty started to gain fame after a lo-fi music producer named Potsu sampled Shiloh on 3 beats. Moreover, those 3 beats were used by XXXTENTACION in his 3 songs from 17, XXXTENTACION’s debut studio album. According to Genius.com, On February 24th, 2017, Shiloh began a business called “SHILOH DYNASTY LLC”. Shiloh renewed her business twice, first on February 6th, 2018 and secondly on December 11th, 2018, just five days after the presence of “SHILOH DYNASTY LLC.” was leaked by the since defunct Shiloh Dynasty Discord Server. In August 2019, Genius posted a video called “The Influence Of Shiloh Dynasty” where Genius approached Anthony Specter, the manager of Shiloh, who spoke publicly for the first time ever on the subject. “Shiloh is an intensely private person and that is all I have to say on the matter.” Anthony was quoted as saying. Moreover, in Shiloh’s personal account, she posted a word “I’m not a look, I’m a feeling” at May 30, 2015. She is kind of artist that separate her works and private life. As of 2020, it is accepted that Shiloh will not ever return to the public eye, post or upload official music on Instagram again.
“I’m not a look, I’m a feeling”- Shiloh Dynasty
For internet music scene, Shiloh Dynasty makes lofi music booming in recent years. Some of people will say that DJ Shadow, J Dilla, Nujabes and the Memphis rap scene had made it booming before. I do agree with this argument because I also enjoy Nujabes and J Dilla. However, Shiloh Dynasty is like fresh air of the existence of lo-fi music to internet. Many producers use Shiloh’s voice as the sample for their works. Beside XXXTENTACION, there are rappers that use the sample of Shiloh’s voice for their song. such as Young Thug and Juice Wrld. The smooth and mellow voice of Shiloh increases lo-fi hip hop scene popularity on internet. As an example, a video titled “Shiloh Dynasty Relax Music With Rain” has gained 9,462,515 views since May 29, 2019.
In my opinion, Shiloh voice and lo-fi music are perfectly blended. Shiloh has a smooth, dreamy, and soft voice, it is in line with the lo-fi hip hop character. According to discovermagazine.com article, lo0fi hip hop stir the listener too familiarity and familiarity is comforting, as is nostalgia. Shiloh voice is really comforting, then mixed with the beats, vinyl crack sound effect and other instrument give a great atmosphere to stay focus or just go to sleep. Shiloh also create a new chance for them who want to learn about music producing, even just by sampling producers could be creative with their own way and make masterpiece.
References:
distorted. (2020, May). Shiloh Dynasty. Retrieved from Genius: https://genius.com/artists/Shiloh-dynasty
Genius (2019). The Influence Of Shiloh Dynasty | Genius News. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZspfvLrGIY (Accessed: January 28 2021).
Moore, J. (2017, August 31). The Mystery of Shiloh Dynasty, The Beautiful Voice All Over XXXTENTACION’s ‘17’. Retrieved from Complex: https://www.complex.com/pigeons-and-planes/2017/08/shiloh-dynasty
Nemo, L. (2020, July 17). The Mystery of Shiloh Dynasty, The Beautiful Voice All Over XXXTENTACION’s ‘17’. Retrieved from Discover Magazine: https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/why-lo-fi-music-draws-listeners-in
