“I love what Terence McKenna thought about culture: it’s not your friend, it’s like furniture, you can sit in it, enjoy it and walk away from it.” – Calibre, drum n bass legend
Culture is the by-product of timelessness. It is too rigid to change within itself but pliable enough to influence the birth of something new.
Take hip-hop for instance. It emerged from the blues and soul genres before it. Today, hip hop lives on through new forms of music like UK grime, which also shares elements of reggae.
Similarly, black culture continues to sows the seeds of American culture to this day.
Some cultures, like some genres and old technologies (e.g. vinyl), stand the test of time. They matter, unlike the fads and interim successors that appear original only to get lost tomorrow.
Culture is a hodgepodge of durable ingredients. It is built on top of something else but stands on its own.