By snoadmin
Don’t you just hate it when your favorite band, the band that only you knew about, makes it big and is now in heavy rotation on mainstream radio? Sure, you’re happy that after much struggle they can actually do music and get paid, but it still feels like your secret is out.
For musicians nowadays, it’s not just about getting a record deal. It’s about how far they can get without jeopardizing the statement, if any, they wanted to make in the first place.
In comes Maya Arulpragasam, known to the world as M.I.A.
I’ve been a fan of her music ever since her first album came out and was surprised when I began to see a lot of her on MTV.
Not since the days of Rage Against The Machine has a politically heavy single made it through mainstream radio with as much popularity as the British rapper’s “Paper Planes.”
The commercial success of the single is due in part to the recent marijuana-friendly movie “Pineapple Express.” Because of the movie’s content, many may praise the song as the next “Smoke Two Joints.”
In fact, the song is about immigrants, not about getting high like a plane. It’s about the current negative American — worldwide — hostility toward groups of people that emigrate for better lives or to escape danger.
M.I.A. herself came from a war-torn country. Although she was born in London, her father moved her entire family to Sri Lanka to fight for the country’s freedom.
This raised many questions when M.I.A. dropped her first album, Arular.
Because of her father’s connection to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which has been labeled a terrorist organization by the United States, M.I.A. has been accused of supporting terrorism.
In a recent interview on KROQ’s Kevin and Bean Show, Blender Magazine‘s editor-at-large Lizzie Goodman explained how M.I.A.’s connection has followed her and even given her troubles when she tried to tour the U.S.
M.I.A. is only doing what many artists in the past have done. She’s pushing the buttons of society with the goal of actually putting people, who have never seen a map, on the map.
In the process, she’s gained a fan base — and hate mail — that has only grown bigger after her mainstream debut.
M.I.A. stands out from the current pop bunch because she has made pretty good music that actually matters. What, an artist with a brain? What a novelty!
Only time will tell if M.I.A. can stay grounded and keep making good music, or if she’ll be buried by attacks on her public image. Or whatever.
