M.I.A.

Released: February 15, 2016

Songwriter: Hazebanga M.I.A. Hit-Boy

Producer: Hit-Boy Hazebanga

[Intro]
It's NFL vs. M.I.A. right now
1. They're suing you for damaging their fantastic reputation by flipping the bird
The other part, they wanted to reserve the right to sue you later to make you pay for any damages they had
If they come after you, they can only come after you for half of your income over five-hundred thousand dollars per year or all of your income over five million dollars per year
So far, it's confidential, nobody in the world knows about this

[Verse 1]
Brown girl, brown girl, turn your shit down
You know America don't wanna hear your sound
Boom-boom, jungle music, go back to India
With your crazy shit, you're bombing up the area
Looking through your Instagram, looking for a pentagram
All I see is poor people, they should be on ghetto-gram
You don't get our underground, brofist or overground
Fist pump, eat ham, or even throw your dick around
Yeah, you try to stick around, do you, do you Bikram?
Let you into Super Bowl, you tried to steal Madonna's crown
What the fuck you on about? Think about goin to France
Quelle heure est-il? This ain't time for your terror dance
Eat, pray, love, spend time in the Ashram
Or I'll drone you, Kony 2012, now scram!

[Refrain]
Boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom-boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom-boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom-boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka

[Verse 2]
American tech outsourced to my city
Made by a hippie, yeah, it's fuckin' trippy
Beatles in the '60s, Timbaland and Missy
Software, underwear, bootlegs in my factory
Hands so rough but nimble like a pixy
Travel like a gypsy, made it so chicksy
This is how we made it to American history
It's not written but we print it in our country
Billions of brown people staying unlisted
Yeah, we get on Twitter and we would just crash it
Jesus went to India, Steve Jobs went to India
Now when you see me you say, "What the fuck's a bindi, uhhh?"

[Refrain]
Boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom-boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom-boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom-boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka

[Bridge]
Killing 'em, billing 'em, and we still in the game
We chill on 'em, pill on 'em, this is drugs for the pain
We check on it, cook on it, [?]
Roll on it, roll on it, suckas been in the game
Killing 'em, billing 'em, and we still in the game
We chill on 'em, pill on 'em, this is drugs for the pain
We check on it, cook on it, [?]
Roll on it, roll on it, suckas been in the game

[Refrain]
Boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom-boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom-boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka
Boom-boom shaka-laka, boom-boom shaka-laka

[Outro]
People see me as trouble, see me, see me as trouble
People see me as trouble, see me, see me as trouble
Cause I got a reputation, got a, got a reputation
And I got a reputation, got a, got a reputation
People see me as trouble, see me, see me as trouble
People see me as trouble, see me, see me as trouble
Cause I got a reputation, got a, got a reputation
And I got a reputation, got a, got a reputation

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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