Conceptually, Coldcut owes as much to the ideas of beat writer and cut-up theorist William S. Burroughs, 1970s art/industrial group Throbbing Gristle, and the religious writings of J.R. Bob Dobbs as much as to Hip Hop originators like Grandmaster Flash or later innovators Double D and Steinski. Recognizing the power inherent in Burroughs' cut-up technique and its presence in Hip Hop music, Moore and Black have relentlessly pushed the D.I.Y ethic and an understanding of play as a means of fostering greater interaction with and understanding of the world around you. The similarities between this ethos and that of hacking need hardly be stated. Ninja Tune uses a corporate facade to communicate via the marketplace itself, an idea first implemented by Throbbing Gristle via their own Industrial Records imprint. One of the key aspects of the Ninja Tune ethos, Stealth, implies that their following of DJs and listeners are "agents" in a Burroughsian sense, propagating the D.I.Y. ethic of play as an essentially subversive act by replaying and manipulating media under the radar of mainstream culture.