In Finland, getting a university degree is the first thing that you expect your kids to do.
What's really important is to simplify. The work of most photographers would be improved immensely if they could do one thing: get rid of the extraneous. If you strive for simplicity, you are more likely to reach the viewer.
There's not a hip-hop artist that didn't snatch of piece of Bob Marley. It's totally impossible.