I always find it at least slightly amusing when people complain about someone else stealing their style, something that tends to happen mostly (but not exclusively) among either hipsters or hip hop artists. In the first place, let us comment to begin that originality is basically an elusive goal. No matter what we create, we are always inspired by someone else. Most of my writing is inspired by situations, or by specific people (whom I try not to name, but who can generally recognize their influence because I am not among the most subtle of people). Every song I have ever written (and there have been many) has some sort of chain of influence in terms of the muse for the song, as well as the musicians and bands whose music has greatly shaped my own approach and style. I may be an immensely creative person, and certainly I am prolific in my art, but I am not original, and neither is anyone else. Even those who create some kind of blend or show an element never before seen do so in copying or reacting to something else before them.

Not only do all of us have a long chain of influences that has shaped our own creativity, but anytime that someone is successful, someone is going to come along to “jack their style.” There are a variety of reasons for this. For one, often many people have the same ideas, and when one person or group is successful, it is often easier for others who have similar styles already (without any copying required) who are able to become successful once there is sufficient appreciation for the first of their kind. At other times, the success of one person or group can inspire others by crystallizing a vision and a worldview that others follow out of sincere admiration. Additionally, there are copycats who lack either the hard work in obscurity waiting for a big break that is shared by those who are considered groundbreaking or the sincere admiration of their influences, and are just looking to cash in on a new trend that appears to be popular. We could term these three different groups of people peers, followers, and frauds, but all the same we ought not to be upset even at those who copy our style.

After all, we have to recognize that copying is going to occur if we are successful because success breeds imitation. If what we are doing works, others are going to want to mimic it, and their motives for it are not really relevant to us. We might find in our peers to be either rivals for our success, an appreciative group of people who understand the struggles we have endured for such success as attain, or people with whom we can collaborate with for further successes. Likewise, we will find in followers people who can appreciate our art and allow it to inspire them, whose works honor us by their presence and who will speak appreciatively of the way that their art and life was changed by what we have provided for them. Even our copycats, even if they do not recognize us, will be known for what they are copying, and they will be in debt, whether they realize it or not, for what we have done.

Let us ponder further on this point. Most us do not want to be obscure and forgotten. We may recognize that because of our approach to life and our vocabulary that we may not be the most accessible of people. We may think (whether accurately or not) that others may not be able to appreciate us fully because they lack the knowledge or education, but deep down all of us want influence and wish to do something meaningful and memorable, to leave some sort of legacy behind us to show that our life was worthwhile and not just wasted time and resources. So we marry and have children, hoping (whether we admit it openly or not) to inspire little beings and have them love and respect us and have some part in shaping what happens after we are gone vicariously. We express ourselves in music and writing and other types of art in the hopes that someone will come across it and appreciate its worth.

The way that influence is felt is through copying. As our style and approach and worldview and vocabulary are copied, we subtly influence the way that others think and behave. This influence can spread across generations (I am inpsired myself by writers and musicians from hundreds and even thousands of years ago who have shaped my approach and language and worldview, including Handel, Purcell, King David, and the Sons of Korah, among others), as well as across nations and languages and other barriers. That influence is a great gift, and it is a gift that is provided anytime that someone sees sthe way we live and act and speak and create and decides to imitate it either consciously or unconsciously. Rather than be upset when people copy our style, we should praise them for helping to further our own influence, so that even if we ourselves are not remembered, the way in which we live lives on in others long after we are gone.