M.I.A.

Released: November 5, 2013

Songwriter: M.I.A. Ruben Fernhout Jerry Leembruggen Rypke Westra

Producer: The Partysquad

UH OH you’re in trouble
I step up in the game and I burst that bubble
UH OH you’re in trouble
I step up in the game and I burst that bubble
UH OH you’re in trouble
I step up in the game and I burst that bubble

Bought up a baby in a bandana
I boarded a boeing eating a banana
Bounce on the bed
Battling with heads
It’s based on a story that nobody read

(people see me as trouble see me see me as trouble)
See me see me as trouble
UH OH
(people see me as trouble see me see me as trouble)
See me see me as trouble

COZ I got a reputation
GOT A GOT A reputation
And I got a reputation
GOT A GOT A reputation

Played in the park
Packed with piranhas
I jump in puddle
Singing NIRVANA
Passed by the past and I end at the start
Now I’m living the life and I’m gonna raise the bar
Do you know my name
Do you know my number
Do you know by summer I will make you a member
I know you're busy running round with Linda
If I don’t get you now then I’ll get you by december
You're dancing styles out dated like tinga
These girls in caps MAMI snap your finger
I drift in deserts from bumper to bumper
We can rock a dress or we can rock a jumper
You want that pain so I set you on fire
These girls are high but I take you lot higher
So get your beer it’s tiger or corona
We throw up heat like a bunsen burner!
You know my badman style
Coz I’m from Lanka
Eat up a falafel
Say danke danke
If I’m in street fighter
I’ll be like blanka
Roll like a ball and I’ll bleed you like a banker
Do you know my name name name name name name
MIA

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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