M.I.A.

Released: November 5, 2013

Songwriter: M.I.A. Switch Doc McKinney Sugu Arulpragasam

Producer: Sugu Doc McKinney

Things do move like sound
Waves do move like round
It don't go up and down
It spreads circle bound
Running like a hound HA
Look at what I found
Where they threw me down
Where they threw me down

On ten we're on

They're an opening ceremony and we all start the same
Cells grow to cell phones
Some form cells
Some get put in cells
Sex fucking sells
Now you know the drill so
Hear me sound the bells
You use new keys to type old deeds
Set up by old needs
What world peace?
What was in ya read? Yeah what was in ya feed?
Where do you get to with the internet lead?
Things do change and change can have a range
Systems shouldn't operate by sticking me in a cage
Ain't Dalai Lama
Ain't Sai Baba
My words are my armor and you're 'bout to meet your karma

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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