The geopolitics of pop culture, with Jaime Brooks of Elite Gymnastics (free)

Jun 13, 2025

Jaime Brooks, a critic and musician known for her projects Elite Gymnastics and Default Genders, digs into the intersection of geopolitics and pop culture. She explores how U.S. protectionist policies influence musical expressions, using Kendrick Lamar and Drake as prime examples. Jaime reflects on her Canadian upbringing and the historical impact of UK and US radio on Western pop music. She critiques the material realities of the music industry, examines the fallout from declining U.S. cultural funding, and emphasizes the importance of community radio in today's media landscape.

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INSIGHT

Canada's Unique Media Perspective

Growing up in Canada provides a unique insider/outsider view of American media and culture.
It reveals the impact of different national cultural policies within shared Anglospheric ecosystems.

INSIGHT

Impact of Canadian Content Rules

Canadian content (CanCon) rules fostered domestic music by mandating radio play of Canadian songs.
This skews consumer experience compared to America’s market-driven radio and impacts cultural production.

INSIGHT

Contrast Between UK and US Radio Models

UK and US radio had opposite economic models: US used market-driven corporate radio, UK created a public, nonprofit BBC.
The BBC’s monopoly allowed unique cultural programming unmotivated by profit, contrasting sharply with commercial American radio.

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From tariffs on foreign goods to scaling back on US military and humanitarian aid abroad, it’s clear that Trump is intent on moving the country in a more protectionist direction. But what does that look like for pop culture? Think: Kendrick’s “Not Like Us” as an anthem for our time, versus Drake collaborating with lesser-known grime and Afro-house producers during the Obama years.

Critic Jaime Brooks — who you may also know for her work in musical projects like Elite Gymnastics and Default Genders — recently wrote an epic essay exploring the geopolitics of music and entertainment in 2025. The piece is called “Notes on the Canzukian Schism,” and it’s an eye-opening look at the ways the European social welfare system, US military policy, and libertarian free market evangelism have shaped our experiences as both consumers and producers of pop culture over the past century.

Jaime joins us to discuss how her Canadian upbringing — much like Marshall McLuhan’s and Drake’s — gave her a distinct perspective on media and culture in the Anglosphere. She takes us through the history of radio in the UK and US, and how it set the stage for both the genesis of Western pop music and the perennial question of whether art should be funded by markets or the state. We also talk about how the “poptimism vs. rockism” debate overlooks the material realities of the music industry, how being online and being literate have become two entirely separate things, and why community radio may be the last viable path forward for culture.

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Read more by Jaime

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