Contemporary Online Remix Culture Continues the Political and Aesthetic Practices - Essay Example

Student’s Name: Course Code: Lecture’s Name: Date of presentation Contemporary online remix culture continues the political and aesthetic practices associated with hip-hop The emergence of hip-hop in the 1970s brought forth a unique political and aesthetic attitude. Contemporary hip- hop remixes practices and propagate the politics and aesthetic of hip hop, although, as a result of the capitalist takeover of the hip-hop culture, the attitude only exists in the underground hip hop(Cohen, 2007). The origin of hip- hop begs interrogation on the copyright and originality, as the online remix culture does. Other than the real content of both hip- hop works and remixes, the manner the works are carried out and the nature of the society in which they originate are similar. Ideally the term “remix”and “hip- hop” are very general and reveal a wide range of works and practices(Lessig, Free culture: The nature and future of creativity, 2005). Hip- hop as a genre of music does not only refer to the musical style, but it also covers the audio and visual aesthetic, dance style and a general perspective about the life. As is clear from the hip-hop writings, it consists of a highly diverse background. Like all other genres of music, hip-hop emerged out of a cultural blending(Lessig, Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy, 2008). The form of music arose in the late 1970s in the deprived migrant poor communities of America. Although most of the recognized hip-hop formations occurred in New York City, virtually all places throughout America originally developed their own hip-hop culture versions as this blending was different in diverse areas.- from rhythm and blues, to soul, to crank, to frank, to bebop, and finally to hip-hop . Although hip-hop is definitely a product of the Afro. American history, the social polycultural construct of New York Played a great role in its emergence in the 70s. According to (Navas, 2012)Hip-hop is believed to have been born out of the practices of graffiti writing, b-boying, MCing and deejaying. However, although these activities are unique and synonymous with hip- hop, the aesthetics attributes contained within hip-hop do not depict a radical shift from everything that occurred prior to the activities. Hip-hop music utilizes the concept of ‘sampling’ to form a new and innovative musical works. In their Remix Defined, Hip- hop deejays often played sounds and beats on a turntable that form unique momentary string compositions. This practice is often referred to as “turntablism”- the use of technology although it does not automatically bring itself out as an instrument being played. Most people say that this originated from the poverty condition within the social base associated with the hip-hop culture and movement. Although sampling was applicable within the musical side of hip-hop, this kind of “innovation” is evident in b- boying dance style, a style which has rapidly evolved through parties with blocks in poorer neighborhoods. In this block parties, the dancers came up with a movement- word list, using scrap cardboards and graffiti to make them much easier to understand and follow, with the illumination for this parties coming from street lights around the neighborhoods. All through the hip-hop movement, the fundamental aesthetic significance of the innovation appears to permeate. Remix (with upper case “R”) is not just described by the material practices and activities but by the political contexts of such practices (Grimes, 2013). As earlier indicated; hip hop emerged from cultural blending of repression, poverty and cultural histories of the immigrant. It also originated from at the end of the civil right campaign movements, and during Nixon’s presidency. It is widely believed that Nixon’s leadership was more repressive rather than being responsive. During earlier presidency, the civil right groups and activities lobbied their pleas to repressive governments, with the hope that the governments would act accordingly. In Nixon’s tenure, though, hip-hop come out with a completely new understanding about the repressiveness of the state, making it to be a new and different method for the unrepresented and unheard population to speak out(Hayles, 2012). According to (Markham, 2012)Remix culture can be defined as the set of practices, activities and artistic movements revolving around creative and imaginative use, juxtaposing, re-use and inventive re- combining of the existing information and media. In the contemporary contexts, the term remix, is mostly linked with the digital iterations such as video mash- ups and the utilization of music sampling of hip-hop. On the other hand, philosophical and cultural origins of remix pre-date the digital materialistic revolution, and its fundamental practices and principles have long and vital history as the weapons of political critique, resistance and subversion. In itself online mixing is a self- realization practice, since it consciously utilizes itself as a platform for unheard voices to be heard. Bu utilizing the available and found material, online remix adopts the “surf- sample- manipulate” technique which refers to the activity of surfing through the internet for either or both audio or visual material content, sampling the available material, and manipulating it to suit the artists intentions. Online remix not only disregards the claim on shared culture, but contravenes the copyright law, that is widely pushed by the multinational record firms. This practice of taking someone’s creative artistic work by the online remix can be compared with the block parties that were organized by the b- boys in 1970s. In these parties, the b- boys used to acquire public space and any found materials. Also this can be compared with the practice by DJs of borrowing breaks during public shows(Markham, 2012). Graffiti writing within the neighborhoods came out as a method of the dweller to claim ownership of public property among the power and powerless people. This graffiti innovation is also attributed to the emergence of new characters, symbols and letters signifying different meanings and interpretations Although hip-hop emerged among a number of communities, the most predominant was the population of African Diaspora. Hip-hop offered them a channel through which their voices were heard. Close to the end of the civil rights movement, the language regarding what being black meant created a controversy. One of the most influential hip-hop artist was James Brown- with his title track Say it loud, he says “am Black n am’ proud”. This formed a great source of encouragement and empowerment among the Black population all over the America, and as such a great influencer to the ambition of the hip-hop movement highlighting their grievances. Browns music has been widely sampled by other influential artists such as Afrika Bambataa, Run DMC, NWA and 2 Live Crew(Bloomm, 2011). There is however some notable distinction between the hip- hop fans who came of age with the civil rights movements, and those who had lived with the hip- hop products. The hip- hop generation fans possesses a unique and shady view of the current political affairs, that were fought by the founders of hip- hop, however it’s understandable the latest hip- hop artists focus more on the culture and less politics.. Now, this political movement has been substituted by the online remix culture. This is where hip- hop has become a “dynamic anybody- can- jump-in” bus it applies in the online remix culture. In itself, the online hip- hop remix culture provides a common platform where any individual with a computer and internet access; the same way hip- hop was to any person with access to a microphone and two turntables(Grimes, 2013). However, hip- hop culture values a critical- minded approach, studious and free ranging approaches to source material. This is valued by “surf- sample- manipulate” technique as well, although sourcing of materials can be done any place in the internet. This has been greatly improved through digitization of data within the internet platform. Some programs such as SoundForge and Vixy permit the sampling of files that have been encoded with the aim of making them inaccessible for “sampling”. Some of the popular “sampled” remix include “Gimme The Mermaid” by Nagativland, which uses audio and footage from “The Little Mermaid” by Disney film, as well as an abusive phone call from an lawyer in the music industry, all mixed with “Gimme Gimme” by Black Flag(Grimes, 2013). Contemporary online remix culture concentrates on modern questions of originality, which immerged from the Jacques Derridas idea of “iteration”and structure of the iteration and remnant as well the anxiety influence idea by Barthe. These two ideas focus on the manner in which in postmodern society, it is difficult to create a piece of or artistic work which is original. “Iterability” by Derrida refers therefore to a “condition of singularity of a thing”. For anything to be the way it is it must be repeatable, and in the process of repeating itself, certain changes occur. This repeatability phenomenon i.e. Iterability makes the question of copy right and intellectual property rights null and void. For instance how can one “own”, anything if everything is basically an instance of that which is already in existence. This “iterability”, equally speaks on for copyright disquiet within both contemporary online remix and hip- hop. Interest and engagement in remix culture is rising rapidly, and can be found across a number of institutional and academic contexts, from classrooms, libraries, courtroom, museums and public libraries(Lessig, Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy, 2008)(Lessig, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy , 2008). When Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie once said that “when we borrowed from a standard we added and substituted so many chords that most people didn’t know what song we were really playing” he simply implied that remix culture needs to be approached from a number of perspectives and approaches, as an aesthetic, as a genre, as an analytical framework, as a cultural movement and a set of existing practices. The examining and understanding of core concepts and practices in the remix culture, and focusing on the manners in which the practice associate with the growing concerns about rise in piracy and plagiarism in the digital era. Towards the early 1980s, coloured people especially the Blacks, did not feature predominantly in the showbiz arena, and as such were effectively relegated into just plain consumers of images and videos which they rarely appeared. However, by the early 90s, the group of marginalized population found themselves in the centre of the business, media, showbiz and academy, partially thanks to the online remix. Remix culture came out from the individuals who were fed up with not having a say in the media as a result of lack of adequate creativity. Reix culture ultimately provided a feed- back to the media machine, for instance “wizard people, Dear Reader”, by Brad Neely, which was re- dubbed, as unauthorized re- narration of the harry potter films. Others include the series of “Brokeback” mixes available on YouTube such as The Brokeback to the future, and the earlier The Empire Brokeback, Brokeback of the Ring much more involved the remix of a number of films with footage and soundtracks from the Brokeback Mountain of Ang Lee, thus implying a homo- erotic, subtext in a mixed up film. The artist behind this pieces of work seek to reclaim the right to make culture in much same way that hip- hop provided the platform for the underrepresented and unheard members of the society to dictate what they wanted their culture to be. Much similar to the parody work by 2 Live Crew, which heavily relied on the sampled material, and was not overtly political either. Just like the people that are represented by the hip- hop pose challenges to the society in terms of originality and copyright, so too are the population that are represented by the online remix culture. Although the techniquesand practices used in hip- hop and remix are different (i.e. microphone and turn tables and surf- sample- manipulate respectively), the underlying political and aesthetic motivations are similar.(Cohen, 2007)Both hip- hop and remix offer a perfect medium and platform for the underrepresented and unheard members of population to voice their concerns by speaking out on matter relating to political and aesthetic motivations. They also offer a way and means for the consumer to recapture control over the content being relayed to them via various channels such as media. Both hip- hop and remix culture value and treasure innovative, thoughtful options and choices concerning the source material. The political and aesthetic qualities complement each other; however the interesting part is as we progress into the future, will another style emerge to take over the political and aesthetic activities and practices performed by these genres. In certain fields of remix culture professional practice, digital materiality plays a vital role in delineating the shape of the incoming material. Although music record managers need to handle the shift to electronic documents. The governing rules of admissibility and weighing of documentary evidence were initially custom designed for analog technology of printed world such as handwritten signature, paper, ink, stamps and so on. With this effect; that the long- standing evidential concepts of originals, authorship, and integrity seem altogether inapplicable and impractical within the digital records. (Blanchette, 2011) (Blanchette, 2011), Argues that reforms are necessary in transforming that reorganization that electronic documents within the digital realm are entirely a new platform worth controlling. The immateriality means that entirely new techniques and methods of establishing and ascertaining authenticity need to be deployed, since digital records do not entirely involve the alteration of matter, thus a process of inspecting them will be a more realistic and reliable methods of determining authenticity. Among the available techniques include cryptographic digital signatures and mathematical algorithms which would provide superior guarantee to authorship and integrity. References Blanchette, J.-F. 2011. A Material History of Bits. University of California, Los Angeles,. Bloomm, H. 2011. The anatomy of influence: Literature as a way of life. Yale University Press. Cohen, J. 2007. Creativity and culture in copyright theory. . California,: University of California. Grimes, S. 2013. Remix Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto- Faculty of Information. Hayles, K. 2012. How we think: Digital media and contemporary technogenesis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Lessig, L. 2005. Free culture: The nature and future of creativity. New York: Penguin Press. Lessig, L. 2008. Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy . Lessig, L. 2008. Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy. NewYork: Penguin Press. Markham, A. N. 201, December). Remix Cultures, Remix Methods:Reframing Qualitative Inquiry for Social Media Contexts. Retrieved September 18, 2013, from http://www.academia.edu/2510994/Remix_Culture_Remix_Method_Reframing_Qualitative_Inquiry_for_Social_Media_Contexts Navas, E. (2012. Remix theory: The aesthetics of sampling. New York: Springer/Wein Press. Read More

In this block parties, the dancers came up with a movement- word list, using scrap cardboards and graffiti to make them much easier to understand and follow, with the illumination for this parties coming from street lights around the neighborhoods. All through the hip-hop movement, the fundamental aesthetic significance of the innovation appears to permeate. Remix (with upper case “R”) is not just described by the material practices and activities but by the political contexts of such practices (Grimes, 2013).

As earlier indicated; hip hop emerged from cultural blending of repression, poverty and cultural histories of the immigrant. It also originated from at the end of the civil right campaign movements, and during Nixon’s presidency. It is widely believed that Nixon’s leadership was more repressive rather than being responsive. During earlier presidency, the civil right groups and activities lobbied their pleas to repressive governments, with the hope that the governments would act accordingly.

In Nixon’s tenure, though, hip-hop come out with a completely new understanding about the repressiveness of the state, making it to be a new and different method for the unrepresented and unheard population to speak out(Hayles, 2012). According to (Markham, 2012)Remix culture can be defined as the set of practices, activities and artistic movements revolving around creative and imaginative use, juxtaposing, re-use and inventive re- combining of the existing information and media. In the contemporary contexts, the term remix, is mostly linked with the digital iterations such as video mash- ups and the utilization of music sampling of hip-hop.

On the other hand, philosophical and cultural origins of remix pre-date the digital materialistic revolution, and its fundamental practices and principles have long and vital history as the weapons of political critique, resistance and subversion. In itself online mixing is a self- realization practice, since it consciously utilizes itself as a platform for unheard voices to be heard. Bu utilizing the available and found material, online remix adopts the “surf- sample- manipulate” technique which refers to the activity of surfing through the internet for either or both audio or visual material content, sampling the available material, and manipulating it to suit the artists intentions.

Online remix not only disregards the claim on shared culture, but contravenes the copyright law, that is widely pushed by the multinational record firms. This practice of taking someone’s creative artistic work by the online remix can be compared with the block parties that were organized by the b- boys in 1970s. In these parties, the b- boys used to acquire public space and any found materials. Also this can be compared with the practice by DJs of borrowing breaks during public shows(Markham, 2012).

Graffiti writing within the neighborhoods came out as a method of the dweller to claim ownership of public property among the power and powerless people. This graffiti innovation is also attributed to the emergence of new characters, symbols and letters signifying different meanings and interpretations Although hip-hop emerged among a number of communities, the most predominant was the population of African Diaspora. Hip-hop offered them a channel through which their voices were heard. Close to the end of the civil rights movement, the language regarding what being black meant created a controversy.

One of the most influential hip-hop artist was James Brown- with his title track Say it loud, he says “am Black n am’ proud”. This formed a great source of encouragement and empowerment among the Black population all over the America, and as such a great influencer to the ambition of the hip-hop movement highlighting their grievances. Browns music has been widely sampled by other influential artists such as Afrika Bambataa, Run DMC, NWA and 2 Live Crew(Bloomm, 2011). There is however some notable distinction between the hip- hop fans who came of age with the civil rights movements, and those who had lived with the hip- hop products.

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