M.I.A.

Released: December 31, 2010

[Hook]
(Listen up, listen up, listen up)
All I ever talk about is my fresh way
Excuse me, what's the problem here
What about you can't hear the words I say
Excuse me, what's the problem here
What about you can't hear all the words I say
If you listen up, you can hear me all day
All I ever talk about is keeping fresh way
Keeping my sway, keeping my A
A-A-A, I sway all day

[Verse 1]
You can come on your own or you can have a crew
You can step up like a man and I'll dance with you
You can thank me later or have an attitude
If you don't feel me now, you'll never feel me, boo

[Hook]
Excuse me, what's the problem here
What about me that you can't seem to hear
If you listen up, you can hear me all day
All I ever talk about is keeping fresh way
All I ever talk about is my fresh way
All I ever talk about is my fresh way
All I ever talk about is my fresh way
All I ever talk about is my fresh sway
Sway, sway, sway all day
Sway, sway, sway, sway, sway, all fucking day
All I talk about is my fresh ish, is my fresh ish
Is my fresh ish, is my fresh ish
Is my ish, is my ish, is my ish
Is my ish, is my fresh ish
Excuse me, what's the problem here
What about me that you can't seem to hear
If you listen up, you can hear me all day
All I ever talk about is keeping fresh way
All I ever talk about is my fresh way
All I ever talk about is my fresh way
All I ever talk about is my fresh way
All I ever talk about is my fresh sway
Sway, sway, sway all day
Sway, sway, sway, sway, sway, all fucking day
All I talk about is my fresh ish, is my fresh ish
Is my fresh ish, is my fresh ish
Is my ish, is my ish, is my ish
Is my ish, is my fresh ish

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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