Designed for Culture

Do you think you’re original? Well you’re not. I would be willing to bet you take inspiration from your surroundings every time you create something “new.” But that’s ok, so does everyone else, and they should. Originality is only the beginning, remixing is the real force behind our culture. It allows us to think outside the box and gives us the chance to creatively innovate and profit from our work.

Remixing is not just a simple term used by DJs and producers that mix-and-match beats and rhymes. Rather, it is an idea that drives a person to create something new from the old world around them. It is an idea that has been instilled within our culture since the very beginning, from the time the first person whittled a stick to a point, to the person who made BeatSneaks. It is the driving force towards our culture’s progression and innovation, both socially and technologically. Through remixes we have gone from nomad hunter-gatherers, to world exploring empires, to countries full of passionate artists, designers, and engineers.

What does it mean to remix? It means you are living a process. A process of curiosity, reflection, and creation, that pushes the limits of human innovation. This process is what has allowed our society to evolve and mature creatively, which in turn advances our technology and betters our morals. It is a process that gives every person the chance to remix the world to his or her imagination’s end. Furthermore, a person can share their remix to inspire and be used by others. It is this opportunity for constant creation and collaboration that makes remixing a powerful force.

When done correctly, remixing can be used as a way to strengthen your brand and create profit for you and anyone you collaborate with. Kayne West, the self-made music producer and hip-hop artist, began his career by producing tracks for other musicians while in college. Through remixing tracks for other known artists, his popularity rose to the point where he could release his own album, The College Dropout. Since then he has had continuous success with his music career, much of which is built off of remixes. One recent successful song, “Stronger” from his album Graduation, is a prime example of his ability to creatively produce great music through remixing.

"Stronger" single album cover.
Cover Art by Takashi Murakami.

West remixed electronica with hip-hop. He sampled vocals from Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” which are used during the chorus and in the background beat. He pulls inspiration from a phrase by Friedrich Nietzsche, “What does not kill him, makes him stronger”. He also worked with Timbaland on the percussion for the song and used parts of “Cola Bottle Baby” by Edwin Birdsong. He then co-produced an extended outro with Mike Dean. The end result was a song that won a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance, and was the number one single in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Turkey, and New Zealand.

“Stronger” not only gave his album tons of exposure, but by heavily sampling Daft Punk, giving them song credit, and involving them in his music video, West gave Daft Punk a heavy push in the hip-hop community and further strengthened their already prominent mainstream recognition. It was a win-win situation for all parties involved, and more importantly a great piece of art was created as a result.

Remixing is also a tool to be used for social change. Shepard Fairey, an artist well-known for his unconventional and anti-establishment art, often remixes photography and graphic design for social and humanitarian causes such as Darfur. His most recent success is the Obama Hope Poster, which is based off of a photograph of the now President, and has since then become one of the most iconic images so far this century.

In his book Designing Obama, Scott Thomas, the Design Director for Obama’s campaign, writes:

“Fairey’s use of the word ‘change’ in the poster highlighted a central campaign theme, but it was his use of a stylized version of Obama’s face that showed how an image could both reinforce a message and convey an entirely different level of meaning. Using reds and blues, Fairey’s portrait configured Obama’s body, face, and eyes to communicate to the viewer that he was a man who was looking forward to the future…”

Obama Hope poster.
Illustration by Shepard Fairey.

Fairey’s work started off as a remix of a photograph but soon became an image that inspired hope in millions of individuals. There was a renewed belief in the power of voting that lead to the largest group of voters ever in the age bracket of 18-29 to vote for a single candidate, and the second largest youth voter movement in the history of the United States. But even though Fairey created an influential image that became the heart of Obama’s campaign, he came up against the biggest opponent of remixing: copyright laws.

Unlike Kayne West, who collaborated with Daft Punk when remixing their work, Fairey grabbed the photograph of Obama he used as inspiration off the internet. Rather than seek out the person or organization that owned rights to the photograph, Fairey used it knowing full well he was going to gain profits from sales of posters, stickers, and other prints. It was not long before the Associated Press pursued a lawsuit against Fairey for copyright infringement. Their claim was that the pose of Obama in the poster was extremely similar to their photograph, which was later proven true. Fairey is currently in the process of settling in court with the Associated Press for credit and compensation from the work.

The ability to remix gave Fairey the privilege of creating socially influential art, but at the same time he disregarded copyright laws and gave no credit for the work that inspired him. Is it a big deal he did not give credit to his inspiration? Possibly. Should he get sued for something that was used for good? Probably not. But our society is capitalistic, and where money is made, people and organizations will do anything to get “their” share of it.

Fortunately, there are those who see remixing purely as opportunity, and embrace it rather than sue it. Tomoaki “Nigo” Nagao, a producer and DJ, saw great potential back when Nike came out with the Air Force One shoe franchise. Originally designed for basketball players, Nigo saw the value the shoe had in the growing hip-hop market. He decided to take a chance, throw copyright laws out the window, and remix the Air Force One into a shoe he knew would explode in the hip-hop community.

A Bathing Ape shoe design.
Photo by KareemsKicks.

Nigo proceeded to blatantly rip-off the base design for the Air Force One by simply taking the Nike Swoosh logo and replacing it with his own shooting star. He then designed limited edition runs of various shoes that were made not only with unique color combinations, but unique materials as well. He formed his own company called A Bathing Ape, and began selling his remixed shoes. They started selling like wild fire and Nigo was able to expand his company to become a full-line clothing store. Today, A Bathing Ape is a multi-million dollar brand with several clothing lines and stores in Hong Kong, London, New York, Taipei, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Singapore.

As A Bathing Ape started gaining success and profits from their shoe line, Nike decided to retaliate. Instead of suing Nigo for copyright infringement of their shoe design, Nike looked at what made his shoes more appealing: the various color combinations and the different shoe materials. Nike spiced up their Air Force Ones in a similar way but with their own designs. Remixing helped the rebirth of the Air Force One, which is now one of the most famous shoe franchises in the world. More importantly, it allowed for the birth of a new and innovative company that continues to be highly successful.

Remixing is a powerful tool for change, expression, and business. The more people who remix the world, the more powerful the process of remixing will become. As businesses and individuals come to understand the benefit of remixing as it relates to profit and innovation, they will start to encourage it and utilize it more often than not. Part of the beauty of remixing is that it is open to anyone, whether you are an independent artist, a multi-billion dollar corporation, or someone who simply envisions a better product. No matter what, you have the ability to remix so long as you have an idea and the determination to carry it out. The level playing field offered through the internet has allowed many people and companies to thrive and become successful purely through their creativity and innovation.

Right now is one of the best times to get into the process of remixing. The growth of our culture is rapidly changing, and is only gaining more momentum. Whatever industry you are in, take a look around and remix your words, your art, your product — create the next iteration to inspire those around you, and contribute to the evolution of society. So long as collaboration continues, Remixers have a bright future in the freedom to challenge the status quo, continually innovate, and creatively push culture.