Douglas Rushkoff has suggested that My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is "the inspiration for the industrial, house, and even rap and hip-hop recording artists who followed"
Toop (122) suggests that this is a "reductive determination to prove that underground scenes [...] must have their source in artists recognised by white media (i.e. mostly white people)"
However, Chuck D "has acknowledged My Life in the Bush of Ghosts as one influence on the hectic, cut-up, collaged sound flow of Public Enemy" (123)