In a genre filled with the same old gangsta rappers, M.I.A. turned the rap world upside down with her amazing debut album, “Arular.” Her new album “Kala” is just as explosive, but it adds a couple of new twists.
For anyone unfamiliar with her work, M.I.A., also known as Maya Arulpragasam, is known for rapping over thumping tribal beats. For example, the first track of “Kala,” “Bamboo Banga,” has a bass-thumping club beat, with chant-like woos in the background. “Boyz,” her first single off “Kala,” sounds like a song from a Bollywood movie, with a horn playing a drone next to bongos and tambourines.
The beats are similar to those of the electronica artist Peaches because M.I.A. uses the same Roland MC-505 Groove-box sequencer.
However, M.I.A.’s beats sound far more funky and ethnic, with timbales, shakers and congas.
Her raps are just as unusual for a rap record. The 28-year-old Sri Lankan’s lyrics are filled with references to the poor conditions of Third World countries. In fact, in the song “Bird Flu,” M.I.A. raps at the end, “Bird flu gonna get you/made it in my stable/from the crap you drop/on my crop when they pay you.” While some of the lyrics, such as “How many no money boys are rowdy/how many start are war,” don’t sound very memorable, her raps are far cooler than the bland gangster raps of Missy Elliot.
Her best track on the album, however, is her jam with the Wilcannia Mob, a group of Aborigine adolescent rappers. Even though the beat is an ordinary hip-hop beat, the digeridoo in the background turns “Mango Pickle Down River” into an Australian rap song. The Wilcannia Mob’s raps sound cool too, with one of the little rappers spouting, “My name is Buddy I can’t stand still/I’ve been moving around from town to town/and this is how I get down.”
Unfortunately, some of M.I.A.’s songs are duds as well. “20 Dollar,” presumably the sequel to the song “10 Dollar” on her first album, sounds a little flat. The slow beat and the empty electronic drone sounds like a monotonous Depeche Mode song.
Still, all the other songs are fresh and exciting, making “Kala” one of the best albums of 2007. M.I.A. is far better than many rappers. Even in her song “Come Around” with rapper Timbaland, her lyrics are far more important than Timba-land’s. Perhaps this is because she raps about political issues that need to be dealt with, rather than raising her own ego.
In a genre filled with duds, M.I.A. blows all the other rappers out of the water.
