Dave Lucas: M.I.A.'s Back In The House...[Re-Mix]

Tags: M.I.A. female rapper rap music Arular Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam Sri Lanka, Kala, Kala

"I find it kind of insulting that I can't have any ideas on my own because I'm a female, or that people from undeveloped countries can't have ideas of their own unless it's backed up by someone who's blond-haired and blue-eyed."-M.I.A.

It's a big day for M.I.A. - the new CD is finally out, and she's getting a boatload of attention in the MSM (MainStreamMedia) so it's only fair and right to celebrate! Her debut album, “Arular” (2005), sold a modest 129,000 copies but was a critical jackpot, both in the mainstream press and the blogosphere. For her follow-up, “Kala,” released by Interscope Records today, the original strategy was the conventional one: to pair up with brand-name producers and shoot for pop hits. But things did not go according to plan. Instead the album became, by necessity and by choice, another restless, far-flung journey. [NYT] The album was recorded around the world (Japan, India, Trinidad, Jamaica, Australia, the United States), and apparently just about everything was in play during those sessions: African chants, Caribbean soca, Brazilian baile funk, Western rock, Bollywood tunes, Baltimore club beats. The resulting mix sounds like the index from "The Rough Guide to World Music" pressed through a hip-hop filter, and it provides a perfectly expansive frame for M.I.A.'s worldly lyrical concerns, which tend to revolve around poverty, boys and war (not necessarily in that order). [WaPo]

I have no idea why I love the cacophony served up by 31-year-old Maya Arulpragasam. M.I.A.'s work slowly grows on you, working its way into your brain like a little parasite. The only thing I can compare the M.I.A. lsitening experience to is Tinariwen, although their music is nothing alike. But take a glass of red wine, get together with a few friends on a warm summer night gathered around a campfire on a beach at Long Island, with Tinariwen playing in the background. Music that eventually overtakes your spirit. M.I.A. overtakes your spirit but hits you between the eyes first; that surely is the difference! Exclusive M.I.A. Interview! On Jamaican "Boyz," New Music, Old Love & Gays!

Arguably one of the hottest acts in recent Lollapalooza, M.I.A. has found herself a place in the music industry. The British-Srilankan rapper is up with the release of her second album 'Kala' that has been proceeded by two singles, the new one being 'Jimmy'. Here's an article from FACT Magazine (UK). Excerpt:

Do you think that most American hip-hop’s has lost that raw edge?
“Yep, because it’s a business. When I first moved to Brooklyn I spent a day looking for apartments. Before I’d even secured one, on that day I met every kid selling me beats…I ended up in six different houses. Kids were dealing beats instead of drugs. People had so much advice, and gave me so many lectures about how much of a grind it was, and how much of a business it is. Loads of people, especially rappers and producers, that I’ve worked it say to me, ‘Maya make sure two things don’t happen to you: 1. You fall in the love 2. You have babies: because that fucks up the game’. It’s just so industrial. I was like, ‘wow, you guys have really turned this shit into a proper business’. And when I met all these people giving me beats, the random kids were business kids. It’s not creativity coming out of necessity but business coming out of necessity. That’s what hip-hop was becoming. When hip-hop came out, white people were the ones rolling in big cars, with ladies and panthers on a leash…it was like Rod Stewart or whatever. Then the pendulum swings to some kid in the hood, wearing shorts stood next to a speaker by the lamppost, making music. Now hip-hop is Rod Stewart. The pendulum isn’t now gonna swing back to some kid on the street by the speaker in America, it’s gonna swing to somewhere in Africa, or China. Because that’s what we haven’t heard yet.”

On her new 'Kala,' MIA speaks out for the world's voiceless
15 M.I.A. tracks and remixes all for free download

M.I.A.'s Music

Hear songs from her new album, Kala:

'Boyz'
'Hussel'
'Paper Planes'

It's kind of like what people say about money:
they say that money talks but wealth whispers, and I think you can apply that to
being political." - M.I.A.

That approach may have paid off: early this summer, she finally gained her work visa, and celebrated by relaxing in her New York apartment. MIA doesn’t need a visa, just inspiration Though it took her two years to get settled in, in the end, M.I.A. doesn't feel as if she's lost anything by not being in the United States. In fact, she thinks it was the United States that may have come out the loser for the delay.

M.I.A. TOUR DATES
08-23 Nîmes, France - Nîmes Arena #
08-24 Paris, France - Rock en Seine
08-26 London, England - Get Loaded Festival
09-01 Dublin, Ireland - Electric Picnic Festival
09-02 Loch Fyne, Scotland - Connect Festival
09-08 Toronto, Ontario - Virgin Festival
09-09 Montreal, Quebec - Parc Jean Drapeau (Osheaga Festival)
09-14 Austin, TX - Zilker Park (Austin City Limits Festival)
09-15 San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Festival
10-26-28 New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Music Experience

Music Review: MIA Returns