Phædrus's Conducive Guide to Quality, Chapter 26: Quality vs. Talent

In the preceding chapters, we established that "quality" is a very tangible attribute, which has been the cornerstone of social progress since man's inception. Unfortunately, the infinitely confounding nature of quality has made the process of defining it a long and fruitless one. In short: what the hell is quality? We know from previous excursions that a teacher grading written tests has to employ his conception of quality in order to differentiate between an extremely good essay and one that's relatively mediocre. Of course, there's always the collegiate preoccupation with correct spelling, correct punctuation, etc., but once semantic-correctness is out of the way, the only thing that earmarks a truly good paper is the quality of the work therein.

So what is this quality comprised of? Talent? Well, talent is occasionally a symptomatic characteristic, but to assume that the two go hand in hand completely ignores the "DJ Zeph Principle." This is a hard law to explain so I'll refer you to a recent Socratic dialectic I had with one of my students:

Student: Hey, Prof! I just dropped by to tell you that that DJ Zeph shit you played during class wasn't too shabby. Why'd you come down so hard on the guy? He's not really a bad musician!

Pirsig: I see you didn't get the point of the lesson. How's a little private tutoring sound?

[Disc begins]

Pirsig: Alright, notice how this first song, "Percussion Discussion," draws so heavily from world beat. The marimbas and tablas are reminiscent of the seductive rhythms of Laika's Silver Apples of the Moon (albeit, awkwardly handled). Too unwieldy for less-sensitive male hands, it seems. The flourishes of guitar and live sitar are nice enough, but rather than creating a truly interesting dynamic, they merely pad out the track. Nothing horrible, but nothing to really pique your interest yet.

Student: But man, that's totally one of the best tracks on the album!

Pirsig: My point exactly. "Percussion Discussion" finds Zeph barely dipping his toe into foreign waters before rushing back to the patio to drape himself in urban America, circa 1982. This is old-school, pastiche hip-hop, right down to the James Brown samples. There's even a battle-rap anthem, boasting the unsubtle title "Rubber and Glue," which features underground ne'er-do-well Azeem spreading the good word about his sneakers. But ultimately, Zeph never enters the creative stratum of his influences, which sounds to be Grandmaster Flash b-sides. His scratching is pretty solid, but it's a technique with limited variation.

Student: But man, that takes talent!

Pirsig: Well, Eddie Van Halen is a pretty talented guitarist, but how often do you listen to OU812?

Student: Dude, I'm so disillusioned...

As you can see, the subject (one DJ Zeph) has enough talent to draw comparisons to his musical heroes but fails to invoke the same sense of excitement those same artists did twenty-years ago when their sound was considered "ground-breaking." Thusly, a talented individual doesn't necessitate a quality product. Obviously, this situation could be easily remedied. Can you guess which aspect of the Pirsig Equation for Artistry® Zeph is lacking?

Talent + Innovation = Quality

-Kevin Adickes, February 5th, 2002