M.I.A.

Released: November 24, 2008

Songwriter: M.I.A. A.R. Rahman

O, saya
O, saya
O, saya
O, saya
O, saya
O, saya
O, saya
O, saya
[?]
They can't touch me, we break off
Run so fast they can't even touch me
Been that gypsy
Touch me, I'll show you gypsy my zig zag quickly

Pick up that pack on my journey
Don't suddenly start to follow me
I am in a luck, some days they suck
When we live by the buck, we get for the family

One day I wanna be a star
So I get to hang in a bar
I'll go to Vegas with the playas
Just to forget my scars

Ek, do, teen, char, panch, cheh, saath
Aat, nau, das, gyarah, barah, terah

Street shops have made me shifty
Like a ninja with speed I am nifty
I hope I live till I am fifty
See my city go from gritty to pretty

O, saya
O, saya
O, saya
O, saya
O, saya
O, saya
O, saya
O, saya

Don't start to follow me
To hang in a bar
I wanna be a star
Pick up that pack on my journey
Don't start to follow me
Wanna be a star

O, saya
Pick up that pack on my journey
O, saya
Start to follow me
O, saya

Ek, do, teen, char, panch, cheh, saath
Aat, nau, das, gyarah, barah, terah

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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