Pretty Lights

Pretty Lights, the moniker of Derek Vincent Smith, is a cornerstone of the American electronic music renaissance of the late 2000s. Emerging from Colorado, Smith pioneered a sound he termed 'Electro Hip-Hop Soul,' which fused the sampling traditions of J Dilla and DJ Shadow with the burgeoning glitch-hop and dubstep scenes.

His early work was instrumental in the 'free music' movement, as he famously distributed his entire catalog for free online, building a massive grassroots following. His career arc is defined by a move from digital sampling toward high-concept analog production, culminating in the Grammy-nominated 'A Color Map of the Sun.' For that project, Smith abandoned traditional sampling, instead recording live musicians to tape and pressing those sessions to vinyl to create his own sample source material. This dedication to 'authentic' electronic music earned him the respect of purists and peers like Rick Rubin. His influence is visible in the 'future funk' and 'jam-tronica' scenes, directly impacting artists like Griz and Gramatik. Critically, he is viewed as a bridge between hip-hop's past and the digital future, maintaining a human, soulful core within complex electronic arrangements.