The soft, smooth tones of 70s/80s AOR (Adult Oriented Rock) has come to be known as yacht rock. Though not really a formal genre, there are common elements, including pillow-soft production and close jazzy chord voicings, that have pricked up the ears of many modern artists cherry-picking the 'best' aspects.
Though hip-hop has long been sampling well known as well as obscure AOR tracks (Warren G's Regulate lifts a lot of Michael McDonald's I Keep Forgetting, while De La Soul's Say No Go goes for Hall & Oates' I Can't Go For That), the popular subgenre of chilled lo-fi hip-hop is a perfect context to utilise the non-confrontational stylings of yacht rock.
