M.I.A.

Released: May 13, 2020

Songwriter: M.I.A.

Wh-wh-WHAT?

[Verse 1]
I got roof on my head
I got food in my pot
The old ways are dead
With the new ones we bought
Theres water in my pot
But im half and half not
The old kind is broke
With the new world we got
I drink alcohol
I got blaze for my throat
And I do rounds on road
And rewrite the code

[Hook]
I don't read
Yea I just guess
And as the world turns
Don't bother me with your mess
I don't need it
Yeah what is your best
Your money turns the world
But your love turns to less
I don't read
Yeah U just guess
And as the world turns
Don't bother me with your mess
I don't need it
Yeah what is your best
Your money turns the world
But your love turns to less

[Verse 2]
I made my bed
And my feets not in lead
I can restart my life
And take it out the red
Yeah amber and green
And bounce in the step
I won't let me down
When I weave out the web
There's no pills for them ills
There's no regulating feds
When you're your own mess
You have to hear me jed

[Hook]
I don't read
Yea I just guess
And as the world turns
Don't bother me with your mess
I don't need it
Yeah what is your best
Your money turns the world
But your love turns to less
I don't read
Yeah U just guess
And as the world turns
Don't bother me with your mess
I don't need it
Yeah what is your best
Your money turns the world
But your love turns to less

[Verse 3]
I'm so bored
I'm so flawed
One time I ran off with a man who's old
Young one called
We broke molds
Show them the world with the money I stole
I've bin wars slept on floors
Now want something that's solid gold
Two inch wide a million folds
One man for
10 thousand on hold
I be that money penny
You can be that bond
Yeah I'ma winner but don't be conned
I'ma big fish how small is your pond?
Go ahead make a wish wave that wand
I don't really need you it's what I want
As the world turns can I take it on

[Hook]
I don't read
Yea I just guess
And as the world turns
Don't bother me with your mess
I don't need it
Yeah what is your best
Your money turns the world
But your love turns to less
I don't read
Yeah U just guess
And as the world turns
Don't bother me with your mess
I don't need it
Yeah what is your best
Your money turns the world
But your love turns to less

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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