Why do we talk about Beyoncé the way we talk about Beyoncé? Why does Nelly Furtado sing about being like a bird? For Elamin Abdelmahmoud, the pop culture we consume becomes part of who we are. And trying to understand this vital part of us is a way of decoding the world.
A long moment cultural writer for Buzzfeedauthor of hit memory Sons from elsewhere and co-host of the political talk show party lines with Rosemary Barton, Elamin now brings her boundless curiosity to Hustlea new daily program launched today on CBC Radio 1 and podcast platforms everywhere.
Going out every day of the week, the show will occupy the last half hour of Q with Tom Power at 11:30 a.m. ET. Q will shift to an hour-long format to focus on his in-depth artist interviews.
To celebrate, Tom Power sat down with Elamin to talk about what’s to come with Hustleand to learn more about Elamin’s journey to get to where he is today.
Q13:01Meet the host of CBC’s Commotion: Elamin Abdelmahmoud!
Elamin Abdelmahmoud joins Tom to talk about the new show coming out next week, Commotion. It is a daily live broadcast of pop culture, arts and entertainment rooted in Canada and global in scope.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Listen to the full interview as a podcast here.
Tom’s Power: I’m happy to say that my friend Elamin Abdelmahmoud is back with me this morning to talk about the brand new show that will land here on Monday. It’s called Hustle. He and his team have worked very hard over the past two months to bring it to you. Okay, everyone wonders: why this show and why now?
Elamine: I’ve been a part of this building for a little while, having conversations about pop culture on a show called Instant chat. This show was once a week. We will now do this every day.
There’s something really exciting for me about us being able to have conversations about arts, entertainment, and pop culture every day, because those are the spaces where I usually live. These are the conversations I want to have all the time. This is where I come from. I’m a cultural writer by trade, you know? So like that for me, it opens up a whole new avenue.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never walked into a party and thought, “Hey, do you want to talk about inflation today?” It’s never been the thing people say to me when they go to a party. But they want to talk about the shows they watch or the songs they were listening to or the great internet debate they just got into – things that end up really lighting up your life. Like they end up making a lot of sense because they become the connective tissue between people.
Alright let’s go @commotioncbc with @KathleenNB @alessadomi pic.twitter.com/OJoPgiAH6W
To M: People have told me that, but only when the party was about blowing up balloons.
Elamine: Good Lord.
To M: Sometimes I’ll go to a balloon blowing party and they’ll be like, “You mean inflation?” I say “Yeah, what size do you want these balloons to be?”
Elamine: We go to different parties, maybe.
To M: Second, I understand what everyone can get out of it. The offer. What is you as about this, though?
Elamine: I’m one of those people who thinks the pop culture we consume becomes a part of us, and sometimes in ways we don’t necessarily even think about. Like we’re not necessarily thinking, “Hey, what do I take away from this show? What do I take away from this big cultural debate that everyone’s having right now?” And it just settles in you.
And I think the reason I got into cultural writing is in a way to explain, why does this thing register with people and not the millions of other things that might be ? And sometimes it’s really fascinating, the kind of doors it ends up opening. Sometimes it’s like it went viral because it was funny. It’s not that deep.
These will not be the conversations we will have. I think we’ll have some really insightful, smart people who can comment on an artist’s place on the world stage in terms of the cultural conversation that we have. Why do we talk about Beyoncé the way we talk about Beyoncé? These questions, for me, are great curiosities that I think I inherited because I came to this country when I was 12 years old. And my first question was like, why are people the way they are? Why does Nelly Furtado sing about being like a bird? Like, I don’t understand what that means. And pop culture becomes a way for me to decode the world, and I don’t think people are that different. Because the ways we consume pop culture open up to larger questions that we all obsess over.
To M: You took a trip to Radio-Canada for a while. You’ve been inside and outside the CBC, I saw you a bit in the building. I knew you from At Issue on The National. I’ve known you since Instant chat sure, party lines the political podcast, but can you tell everyone about your first CBC gig?
Elamine: I would love. It was March 2012 and I came to this building on a 30 day contract to work on a show called George Stroumboulopoulos tonight. And my job was production assistant. And my very specific job was to literally go every day to Queen Video, an old video store that used to exist on Queen Street in Toronto, to rent DVDs so that the video editor on George Stroumboulopoulos tonight to mount the video package. And then at the end of the day, I would introduce the audience for the taping, and then watch them and watch their delighted faces.
To M: And did you think, “Oh, I think I’d like to do something like that one of these days?”
Elamine: I did it. But, you know, summer came and I thought, man, my landlord doesn’t care if it’s summer. They are still waiting for rent. The only thing that didn’t have seasons was the news, that’s why I switched to the news. So my second job in this building was at The National. I rolled up the teleprompter and printed the scripts. It was my job to crank the prompter to keep up with the speed at which Peter Mansbridge read the news.
To M: I love that’s how you started at CBC, and I love that’s where we’re at right now. What do you have planned for the show with the first week?
Elamine: Oh mate, so day one we have this conversation about Pamela Anderson releasing a new documentary. But the new documentary is made with his participation. What interests me about this is that there’s this recent series of documentaries where celebrities have done a documentary about themselves, but they’re also executive producers. I watch these documentaries, like Shawn Mendes had one, Selena Gomez, and I’m curious if you can take their word for it or not. I think what interests me about Pamela Anderson is that she’s someone who’s been through hell. The way people talked about Pamela Anderson was so demeaning, so misogynistic for so long. And so one would think, of course, someone like Pamela, why would she ever be interested in giving control to someone else? Of course, she would want to be involved in this. And so we’re going to talk to a few people about it.
To M: Yeah, I think you’re absolutely onto something. I can’t wait to hear all of this. I’m so excited that those of us in Canadian media and only those of us who have spent time with your work over the years have always known that more people needed to hear it. And it was only a matter of time. So I’m very happy that people from all over the country can spend time with you every day.
Elamine: Tom Joe Power is very nice. Thanks dude.
To M: Well, I think so. Elamin Abdelmahmoud is the new host of Hustle“I didn’t even have a joke for you at the end, just pure sincerity.
Elamine: Really nice.
To M: Broadcast right here in this timeslot on your CBC radio dial, at 11 a.m. everywhere except Newfoundland and parts of Labrador, where you can catch it at 11:30 a.m. Of course, you can stream it whenever you want on CBC. Listen and you may find it on podcast.
“Pop culture fanatic. Introvert. Devoted food trailblazer. Bacon geek. Lifelong coffee evangelist.”