What exactly is trip-hop?

?

Another name for some fad in music which will last almost for six months before being classed as rubbish and ditched forever.

Feel Good Inc by the gorillaz

Trip hop (also known as the Bristol sound or Bristol acid rap) is a term coined by music journalist Andy Pemberton in the UK magazine Mixmag to describe the hip hop instrumental "In/Flux", a 1993 single by DJ Shadow, and other similar tracks released on the Mo' Wax label and being played in London clubs at the time. "In/Flux", with its mixed up bpms, spoken word samples, strings, melodies, bizarre noises, and slow beats and grooves, gave the listener the impression they were on a musical trip.[1] The trip hop description was applied to the musical trend in the mid-1990s of downtempo electronic music that grew out of England's hip hop and house scenes. The Trip hop genre is quite the phenomena in that many of the artists labeled in the genre express distaste in the label. Many artists have said they would much rather be labeled as Hip Hop or not have a genre at all. Sometimes characterized by a reliance on breakbeats and a sample-heavy, often moody sound pioneered by Coldcut's remix of Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full", trip hop gained notice via popular artists such as Massive Attack, Moloko, Portishead, Tricky, Bj枚rk, Thievery Corporation, Amon Tobin, and rock-influenced sound groups such as Ruby, California's DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, Gorillaz, Unkle, and the UK's Howie B. Morcheeba, originating from Hythe in Kent, Londoners Glideascope and New York's Bowery Electric are also often associated with this sound. The latest additions to this line of performers are Jem and Australia's Spook. The Bristol Sound came out of the wider Bristol Urban Culture scene.

I hate the label but, some of my personal favorites are :

Massive Attack (Blue Lines)
TRICKY (Maxinquaye)
Portishead (Dummy)
* DJ Shadow (Endtroducing)

Sonically these albums are what I thought Hip Hop would sound like by 96'..and it still doesnt.

Its a kind of down tempo psychadelic hip hop. Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky, Sneaker Pimps, Morcheeba and DJ Shadow (US) were considered the pioneers. Really it emerged from the sound system scene in Bristol, England.

never heard of it ab