English professor discusses hip hop and the 2012 U.S. presidential election for CBC Radio U.S. election special

Dr. Erik Nielson, assistant professor of English in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, joined other commentators in a radio interview on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio’s Q with Jian Ghomeshi to discuss the U.S. presidential election.

Q’s U.S. Election Special, held November 2, 2012, featured Nielson discussing Obama and hip hop in addition to other commentators discussing the election from various perspectives including journalists on “truth” in the election, a comedian on satire as political commentary and an historian on how reproductive rights shaped the election.

Nielson’s Guardian article, “How Hip Hop Fell Out of Love with Obama,” served as the starting point of the interview. Nielson discussed candidate Obama’s public embrace of hip-hop and the community’s role in electing President Obama prior to the 2008 election. He also speculated on the changing role of hip-hop in the 2012 election cycle and the changing relationship of the hip-hop community to the president.

The interview with Nielson begins approximately one-third of the way through the episode podcast.