Illbient

Illbient is a genre of electronic music and an art movement that originated among hip hop-influenced experimental musicians from New York City in the early 1990s. The word "illbient" combines the hip hop slang term "ill" with "ambient"; DJ Olive and DJ Spooky, pioneers of the genre, have claimed to have coined the term.

Though there are many individualistic variants of illbient, the music is characterized by dub- and industrial-influenced layering of beats and soundscapes, hip hop-influenced use of breaks and samples, and a progressive approach to beat programming that encompasses many forms of world music and electronic music.