M.I.A.

Released: August 18, 2016

Songwriter: Charles Smith M.I.A.

Producer: Diplo

[Verse 1]
I'm a parrot
I'm robin this joint
Not a lyre bird
Sure ain't a vulture
Don't swallow that cause I make the culture
I'm not a lyre bird, I'm not a lyre bird
Staying, staying rich like an ostrich
Love ain't a albatross hanging 'round ya neck
Drink a sparrow, love is food, take a peck
Let's go to Turkey, swift like a rail
Can't pigeon hole, I'm epic like a Zeus tail

[Hook]
Free up my love
Free up my love
Free up my love

[Verse 2]
Doves cry
Are you going home alone?
Squad flock
Migrate for the summer
Duck out for, for some hot weather
Birds of prey and I'm shaking off my feather
See the water foul, swing on a creeper
Like starlin dictating love on my speaker
Hot flamingo, go bird emoji yo
Monogamous like a swan going with the flow

[Hook]
Free up my love
Free up my love
Free up my love
Free up my love
Free up my love
Free up my love

[Bridge]
Watch the sky, watch the sky
Watching, watching the sky
Watch the sky, watch
Watch the sky
Watch the sky
Watching, watching the sky
Watch the sky, watch, watch

[Verse 3]
Is that a crow on a crain?
Is that you or a plane?
Where's your chicken at?
I'm watching like a hawk
Aye, I need more birds!
Gully like a seagull
Gully like a, gully like a seagull
Gully like a seagull
I'm cuckoo for you, let's talk!

[Hook]
Free up my love
Free up my love
Free up my love
Free up my love
Staying, staying rich like ostrich

[Outro]
Drop down get your eagle on
Drop down, drop down like a falcon
Drop down get your eagle on
Drop down, drop down get your eagle on
Drop down get your eagle on
Drop down, drop down like a falcon
Drop down, fly phenomenon
Humming higher than a drone
Free up my love

One of the most musically-diverse and perplexing artists of the 2000s, Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam is arguably the decade’s best representation of Hip-Hop in its truest form and artistry in its broadest, most diverse format. Her lyrics are as political as Public Enemy, her sound is more eclectic than Stankonia-era Outkast, and she is as aesthetically-driven as Kanye West.

The road that M.I.A. was forced to travel to international stardom was not an easy one. Born on July 18th, 1975 in Hounslow, West London to Sri-Lankan Tamil immigrants, she moved to her parents' homeland when she was only six months old. However, it was the Sri Lankan Civil War which came to shape her childhood. During her formative years, she witnessed many her father was hunted as an enemy of the state, her schools were bombarded, and her impoverished family was constantly in hiding. In 1986, her family moved back to London to find stability and a sense of relative peace.

In England, she discovered her artistic talents and completed several years of secondary education in fine art – eventually gaining attention as a visual artist, painter, and musician. In the early-2000s, Maya began to seriously explore her musical talents and used the internet and underground radio as the means to build her reputation as a unique and talented firebrand. Amidst her no-nonsense politics, however, critics from around the world heard a talent in the making.

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