#PSBPopCulture: Everything’s a Remix – April 28, 2016
Last week, we witnessed Kobe Bryant leave the game of basketball in unprecedented fashion. Scoring 60 points in front of the cultural icons such as Jay-Z and Jack Nicholson while millions sat at home to see one last Kobe performance. It was THE game we wanted to see. Although he started slow, he would find his rhythm while hosting up 50 shots en route to 60 points and the win.
Love him or hate him.
Dropping 60 pts in a W is an AMAZING way to bid the NBA farewell.#ThankYouKobe pic.twitter.com/x7U0exyyG5
— Brandon Clay (@BrandonClayPSB) April 14, 2016
Inevitably, there were Kobe detractors and one of the most notable was Jason Whitlock who guest-hosted on the Colin Cowherd show last Friday. In his comments (below), he called Kobe a fraud and a knock-off of Michael Jordan. This led to an interesting conversation with our PSB Pop Culture team about the idea originality in sport, music and art. Jonathan Hemingway and Jordan Davis dive deeper into this issue in this article.
By: Jordan Davis @JDavisPSB and By: Jonathan Hemingway @JLHemingwayPSB
What are your thoughts about Jason Whitlock’s comments about Kobe?
JORDAN: I’m not thrilled about his comment, however I am not surprised. The reason the statement is invalid is because it is based on the ideas that Kobe copied Michael Jordan’s game. Of course he did!!! This is basketball and the best part about basketball is when players find other players that they look up to and they study their game. You want to be able to find pieces of their game you can incorporate into your own and improve your performance. And Kobe didn’t just do this with MJ, he took pieces of all the historic basketball greats and tried to embed that into his arsenal of his game.
HEMINGWAY: Personally, I am not a Kobe fan. So I did not take these comments to be as blasphemous as many others within our circle at Peach State Basketball. I think there is some validity behind his points about Kobe being selfish and narcissist. His farewell tour was a near farce, but it was entertainment and it was what the fans wanted to see. However, his points about Kobe being a fraud I think are way off base. His comment, “Imitation is often a sign of fraud” is completely inaccurate. Kobe won five championships, a league MVP, multi-year All-Star, etc. etc. etc. There is nothing fraudulent about that. Kobe won! Whitlock can stop with that rhetoric.
20 NBA seasons
18 NBA All-Star Games
11 time NBA First Team
9 team NBA All Defense Team
5 NBA titles pic.twitter.com/7aqOcLTbqL— Brandon Clay (@BrandonClayPSB) April 13, 2016
Is Imitation Good For Sports?
JORDAN: Imitation is great for sports in two different ways. First, to truly be great at your sport you have to find a few people that are great at your sport and see what it is that gets them their success. That can be anything you want it to be. Players look at the greats work ethic, their pregame ritual and literally everything else that they do. Second, that is the only way sports will revolutionize into better and better competition. Players watching legends from the past and trying to do what they did, but BETTER.
Imitation is a transition method of historic events and greatness from one generation to the next. I was born in ‘95, so I didn’t get to watch Jordan. I did witness was Kobe, who because of this, became MY generation’s version of MJ. My generation didn’t get to experience Michael Jackson, but they did they get Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, and other artists that pulled pieces of Michael Jackson’s greatness.
HEMINGWAY: After coaching basketball for 15 years, let me share a not well-kept secret: Everybody tries to copy the winners. You see it with teams that win. In the NFL, organizations try to copy the Patriots. Now everyone is trying to copy Golden State in the NBA. Small Ball and stretch 4 and 5 players are trending. If there is one place in the world where originality has little to no value, it is in the arena of sports. In terms of individuals, you always teach youth players to mimic the successful players. You tell players to watch the footwork of a Tim Duncan or the shooting release of Klay Thompson. Everything is copied in sports, because you know that works. In terms of Kobe copying the posture, the style and the moves of MJ – he modeled himself after the best and he came very close to mastering those skills and he won. Let him live.
Is Imitation good for Music and Art?
JORDAN: I read a book by Mark Fisher, called Capitalist Realism recently. This book briefly touched upon this idea of imitation. He describes how “monetary value is the death of culture”, and so on and so on. But then Fisher talks about Kurt Cobain and his ideas on the culture of music. He referred to Cobain’s quote, “Everything is a cliche”. Kurt Cobain understood that his music would make him famous. Cobain knew that regardless of his fame, everything that could be done has been done. It is that inherent idea that everything that has taken place will continue to repeat on down the road. Because of this there is no true originality in music/art. Everything has already been tried, everything has already been done, all we can do is revamp it or contort it into something that looks new. Every artist has an artist or two, or several that they embed into their own art form. Even if it’s unknowingly.
HEMINGWAY: Much like in sports, musicians and artists take ideas or samples from their predecessors and make it their own. The most sampled song of all time is an 80’s track called La Di Da Di by Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh. Ludacris and Mary J. Blige sampled it in Runaway Love when they scratched “like this” together (watch the video below). Color Me Badd sampled the phrase ‘to the tic toc you don’t stop” in their hit single “I Wanna Sex You Up.” Even Miley Cyrus put her own twist on the phrase La Di Da Di in her song 2013 song We Can’t Stop. She switches it up by singing “La da di da di, we like to party.” In many ways you can trace much of hip-hop back to this one song. Everything that we see in pop-culture is truly built upon something that came before. A key difference should be noted here. There is a difference between copying and imitation. Taking someone else’s work and putting your own name does stink of plagiarism. I am embarrassed to say that I have bought local rappers mix-tapes in parking lots. Only to find it is just a few teenagers rapping Young Jeezy and T.I. tracks. That is not imitation…it is a simple rip-off. However, when an artist takes a previous piece of work and takes it in another direction we can see the true value of creative imitation.
Ludacris – Runaway Love ft. Mary J. Blige
So what does it mean to be Original?
JORDAN: The true definition of originality is to be independent and creative. However there is no true originality in the world. Mark Twain once said, “All ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources…”. After two semester of philosophy I just don’t believe there is such thing of originality.
HEMINGWAY: In my view, everything is original and nothing is original all at once. No one can walk in the same time and space as a previous athlete, writer or musician. The world changes by the day and the ways in which we encounter the culture change as well. We are unique and original by simply being who we are at this moment. Yet the thoughts, emotions, ideas that we have are all borrowed from those before us and even those around us. It is impossible to live life in a vacuum or a bubble. What is more important is using what we know and experience to mold ourselves into the best version of ourselves. That is true originality.
Is there a point where copy cats lose credibility? Or does it depend on their status?
JORDAN: There’s times when “copy cats” are badgered, the way Whitlock tried Kobe, or the way rap heads call Drake a “Culture Vulture.” Truth is, the people that attack their imitators are the ones that don’t understand it’s the way of life. When Young Thug first came on the scene everyone was saying, “Who is this Lil Wayne wannabe?”. Heck he even named his album “Barter”, after Lil Wayne’s “The Carter” album series. Now Young Thug is well known and commonly played throughout the world.
So at first, yeah the copy cats are made fun of and slandered. However once it starts to work and society looks passed the initial imitation, they develop a fan base and they are looked at as originators.
HEMINGWAY: I believe that the difference between a copy-cat and a true artist is being unique to the moment. Kobe may have borrowed MJ’s moves, but he brought LA back to championship status. Jay-Z has been accused of stealing Biggie’s rhymes, but he certainly made the 21st century his own. In the end, it does not matter who did it first what matters most is who did it the best. So in this way of thinking, “Everything’s a Remix.”
Jordan Davis is a contributor to PSBPopCulture.com with a unique blend of #PSBPopCulture reviews. Davis has been rocking the latest trends since arriving here in 1995. He is currently a student at Kennesaw State, a Social Media Intern with PeachStateBasketball.com and is well on his way to being the youngest in charge sooner than later.
Jonathan Hemingway is a Chicago sports fan who reps the Bears, Bulls and Cubs. He’s also a diehard NFL Sunday Ticket subscriber. Like Clay, Hemingway’s music taste are wide-ranged and depend on the day. He is also a major part of PeachStateBasketball.com wearing multiple hats with the title of Director of Domestic Scouting and owning CoachHemi.com.
