Nujabes

Few producers ever built such an enduring world from the quiet alchemy of the record store. From his Shibuya-based Hydeout Productions label, Jun Seba—who spelled his name backwards to create his alias—practically invented the language of what became known as lo-fi hip-hop. He didn't just sample jazz; he inhabited its melancholy soul, pulling looped piano melodies and hushed horn lines into profoundly introspective beats. His work scoring Shinichirō Watanabe's 2004 anime Samurai Champloo became a global entry point, but it's the personal statements like Modal Soul (2005) and collaborations with MCs like Shing02 and Cise Starr on tracks like "Feather" that cemented a legacy frozen in time by his sudden death in 2010 but still breathing on every late-night playlist.