Erik Nielson (academic)
American academic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Erik Nielson is a professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Richmond who has become well known as an expert in the use of rap music as evidence in criminal trials.[1][2][3]
Early life and education
Nielson graduated with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies (Echols Scholar) from the University of Virginia in 1998. He further pursued education at the University College London, earning a M.A. in English in 2001, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Sheffield in 2011. His dissertation at the University of Sheffield was titled "Under Surveillance: The Evolution of Black Arts in the United States."[4]
Career
His book Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America,[5] with co-author Andrea Dennis, was published in November 2019 and received the Hugh Hefner Foundation First Amendment Award in October 2020.[6][7] He was a consulting producer and interviewed for the Emmy-nominated documentary As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024 and distributed by Paramount + starting on February 27, 2024.[8][9] He has served as an expert in court cases, and his testimony has been cited to exclude rap lyric evidence.[10]
Nielson's research focuses on the relationship between African-American culture and policing, as well as the relationship between hip hop and politics.[11][12][13] He has written for the New York Times and other mainstream news outlets on these issues.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20] He was the lead author of four amicus briefs with the US Supreme Court, three of which were jointly submitted with his frequent collaborator, Killer Mike.[21][22][13][23][24] Nielson and Travis L. Gosa edited The Hip Hop & Obama Reader. [25]
Nielson received the Distinguished Educator and the Distinguished Scholar Awards at the University of Richmond.[26]