 "Photo: Courtesy of M.I.A.")
In an era when hip-hop is fast becoming a vapid art form obsessed with money, fame, violence and women, it's comforting that brilliant artists like Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam still find some degree of success. Once a socially conscious and political means of expression, rap has been manipulated into a pale parody of itself by institutions like MTV, BET and a new generation of rappers more concerned with their Bentleys than the current state of world affairs. However, seeing artists like M.I.A. make albums like her brilliant new Kala brings hope to what otherwise might swiftly be becoming a stagnant musical genre. M.I.A. doesn't just exist in the misogynist and often racist world of modern hip-hop; she thrives, and her post-modern amalgamation of electro, grime and rap screams of revolution and war against the modern era of hip-hop.
Truly a fascinating character, M.I.A. was born in London but moved to Sri Lanka with her family when she was only six months old. Of Tamil origin (a Sri Lankan ethnic group), her father was involved with the violent militant organization the Tamil Tigers during Sri Lanka's bloody civil war. During this time, young Maya was shuffled among the island, India and the U.K., at times living in a mud hut with little food or water. Eventually her family settled back in London as political refugees.
Living a diasporic life away from her home country and unable to fit in, M.I.A. turned to music, and it was then that her affinity for artists like Public Enemy and Big Daddy Kane began. Eventually M.I.A. attended Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, where she studied art and film. M.I.A.'s subsequent artwork reflects her revolutionary upbringing as well as her south London influences, foreshadowing her music's mixture of sounds by combining bright graffiti art with Tamil Tiger propaganda. Commissioned by Elastica's Justine Frischmann to draw the cover art for the band's second album, M.I.A. followed Elastica on tour, where supporting artist Peaches introduced her to electronic music.
Over the next year, M.I.A. crafted the album Arular, named for her father's Tamil Tiger code name. Tracks like "Galang" and "Sunshowers" soon struck a chord with music executives, who saw the power of cool beats mixed with M.I.A.'s revolutionary message. Arular was released in March 2005 and quickly sent M.I.A. to the top of critics' lists for album of the year. Much like M.I.A. herself, the album features influences from all over the world, from Jamaican slang to Spanish art.
Controversy followed M.I.A. relentlessly during this time, as MTV refused to air the video for "Sunshowers" due to its mention of support for the PLO, and numerous visa problems kept M.I.A. from performing in the U.S. M.I.A. has gone on to say that her visa problems were a blessing in disguise, as they forced her to go elsewhere to produce her follow-up, Kala, as opposed to collaborating with only top U.S. hip-hop producers.
2006 saw M.I.A. back in the studio recording with help from artists such as Diplo, Switch and Timbaland. Sampling artists from the Clash to New Order to the Pixies, as well as being recorded everywhere from the slums of Jamaica to the deepest regions of Africa, Kala (named after M.I.A.'s mother) showcases a definite step forward in M.I.A.'s quest to take over the music world.
Already being hailed as the top record of 2007 by several music blogs, Kala is to Arular what The Bends was to Pablo Honey - such a massive step forward that it would not have seemed possible when listening to the first album. More political, more confrontational and more musical than her last album, Kala shows that M.I.A. is clearly just getting started. This begs the question: Can a Sri Lankan woman raised in south London, the daughter of militants, really hope to break into the charts in a male-centric hip-hop world that seems to have no place for politics?
If there's any woman who can do it, it's M.I.A. Having already taken notoriously elitist music blog Pitchfork Media to task by confronting them on their misogynist and inaccurate reporting, M.I.A. is ready to take on the world. And with new tracks like "20 Dollar" and "Paper Planes" challenging everything hip-hop has represented in the past decade, she'll need that strong will. Ultimately, it's incredibly refreshing to see a brilliant artist try something new and revolutionary.
And who better to do it than an actual revolutionary?
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