© 2024 Blue Ridge Public Radio
Blue Ridge Mountains banner background
Your source for information and inspiration in Western North Carolina.
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

#BackChannel: The Stardom Of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, The Fate Of R. Kelly, And Meeting “Mr. SOUL!”

WUNC | By Frank Stasio,
Anita Rao
Published January 24, 2019 at 12:19 PM EST

California Sen. Kamala Harris joined the growing list of Democratic contenders for the 2020 presidential race earlier this week. How will her legacy as a prosecutor and her biracial identity impact her campaign and candidacy? It is one of many topics popular culture experts Mark Anthony Neal and Natalie Bullock Brown take on with host Frank Stasio in the latest installment of #BackChannel, The State of Things’ recurring series connecting culture and context. 

Popular culture experts Mark Anthony Neal and Natalie Bullock Brown join host Frank Stasio for the latest installment of #BackChannel.

They also discuss the social media stardom of freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), whose comments and charisma are raising eyebrows both inside and outside her party.

The two review three new artistic creations, including “If Beale Street Could Talk” from director Barry Jenkins; the documentary “Mr. SOUL!” which pays tribute to Ellis Haizlip, the black, openly-gay television host behind a seminal, star-studded PBS variety program; and the new six-part Lifetime documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly,” which traces decades of sexual abuse allegations against the artist and has given new life to the efforts to #MuteRKelly.

Brown and Neal share their picks for the 2019 Grammys and talk about the artistic legacy of Missy Elliott as she becomes the first female hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Natalie Bullock Brown is a filmmaker and teaching assistant professor at North Carolina State University, and Mark Anthony Neal is the James B. Duke professor and chair of the department of African and African American studies at Duke University in Durham.

Check out trailers for the three projects reviewed in this episode:

Mr. SOUL!:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpfLkuWdMeI

Surviving R. Kelly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPAPSXOgGeg

If Beale Street Could Talk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4m3t3G3Zqc

The new lifetime documentary 'Surviving R. Kelly' traces decades of abuse allegations against the artist.
Courtesy of Lifetime /
The new lifetime documentary 'Surviving R. Kelly' traces decades of abuse allegations against the artist.
Missy Elliot will become the first female hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame later this year.
Courtesy of Derek Blanks /
Missy Elliot will become the first female hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame later this year.

Copyright 2019 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
See stories by Anita Rao