Rhetorical Velocity and Genre Theory: Building the Future

   Rhetorical velocity is an idea which applies to how an author will anticipate the future use and possible recomposition of their work in new ways or media. It is an incredibly abstract and high order concept because it involves the author trying to prepare for new methods of information delivery that may not even exist yet. The chief benefit of doing this is that it allows one's work to stay relevant and in the public's eye a bit longer; something with a significant amount of rhetorical velocity can be constantly recycled with each generation and become a "classic" in the sense of a great work. When something has a great amount of rhetorical velocity, it has the potential to be considered "timeless." Timelessness is the ultimate goal of all artists. To create art is to try to be remembered, and to be remembered is to be immortal. The greatest artists of all time like Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and Van Gogh are remembered for their incredible works but also for the mystifying aura that their works now have thanks to the "larger than life" persona given to them by the timelessness of their works. Ridolfo and Rife identified this concept and also cited its main disadvantages, such as the work being used for something that the original creator did not only not approve of, but changes the entire meaning of the original work. While it may be difficult for someone to change the meaning of the original Mona Lisa, in today's world, most music and digital art can easily be remixed into something entirely different from what the original artist had intended. For example, Chaka Khan's hit song "Through the Fire", a ballad about overcoming the obstacles and arduous life events to maintain the love she has for her partner, was remixed by Kanye West into "Through the Wire", a song about West's own near death experience in a car wreck and how it changed his outlook on life. The song's title comes from how West wrote and recorded the song while still recovering from his injuries, and he recorded the vocals with his jaw wired shut.

   Miller's genre theory puts forth the idea that genre is a hierarchy created by ideas, concepts, and art works that can be classified by similar characteristics. However, the driving force behind this idea is the idea of creation. When a new idea or concept enters this hierarchy and develops its own branch, a new genre has been created. The explosion of electronic music over the past two decades is an example of this. First, there was the ever popular-and still often mislabled-techno, which then developed its own subgenres like deep house, dubsteb, drum and bass, and trap. Miller's model also puts the broadest forms of genre at the top, and gets more specific as one goes down the model. For example, "techno" would be under electronic music, and electronic music itself is under music. How authors and artists keep developing and pushing the boundaries of current art forms is how new genres are created, and with the rise of home recording studios and affordable music equipment as well as the Internet, new genres have come about in droves. One artist can found an entire genre simply by themselves. Such an example is that of Washed Out, which now tours as an ensemble band, but began as a one-man music project in south Georgia. His laid back synths and hypnotic drum loops became classified as a new genre of "chillwave", named for its dreamlike sound. Today, artists are not playing by the traditional rules as much, and as a result are creating many more genres than in the past.

   One reason why this is happening is because of the remix culture in today's world. In the past, remixes were a much smaller market due to licensing and distribution issues as well as creation logistics. Now, I can download Taylor Swift's latest single, plug it into Pro Tools, and transform it into a new and different song, all from the comfort of my bedroom desk. Remixes also appeal to an audience because hearing a familiar song in an exciting new way is refreshing and fun. It is for this reason that rhetorical velocity has become more important than ever. Rhetorical velocity is now being considered with much more importance because any artist is constantly facing the possibility of remix. With this, the possibility of new genres increases greatly, as some artists focus on remixes entirely. The Norwegian music producer Kygo has built a worldwide online following with his remixes, and is in what is being known as the new, rising genre of "tropical house", so named due to his upbeat, warm instruments which remind one of sitting on a sunny beach. As the number of genres, and thus the number of works, increase, the possibility of remixes increases exponentially, so much so that original singers have resorted to releasing a capella versions of their songs again in the hopes of being featured on the next remix hit single. With that level of rhetorical velocity, why even bother with the music for the original song?