M.I.A.

Featuring: Blaqstarr

Producer: Switch M.I.A.

[Verse 1 - M.I.A.]
There's main stream
With the main dreams
But waterfalls start with a little stream
Even Kubrick started with a small scene
Before it became The Shining
If you're coming from the hood work on getting knowledge
If you're from the frontline then you wanna survive
I didn't choose the battles but the battles chose me
When the bullet first hit my cousin Willsie
I been in the game now 5.3
Lil shorty but got shorties after me
I stay humble cause the shit I've seen
Cause I already know there's only one me

[Hook - Blaqstarr]
I really would like see the star shine
But the light getting covered up in hard time
Oh, oooh, I need to let loose
And the water ran dry, fill it up with juice
Oh, they need a believer

[Verse 2 - M.I.A.]
There's no mean and there's more mean
Every tree started with a little bean
Everything you go through at 17
Will it still count at 70?
If I'm coming from the streets then I'm getting money
But my deeds in the bank are worth plenty
I didn't choose the music but the music chose me
The art of hitting your speakers making it bleed
I've been thinking about what effects me
And the will to survive is always in me
Every glass of water grows what I be
And every glass of liquor gets me tipsy

[Hook - Blaqstarr]
I really would like see the star shine
But the life getting covered up in hard time
Oh, oooh, I need to let loose
And the water ran dry, fill it up with juice
Oh, they need a believer

[Verse 3 - M.I.A.]
It's about people, not money
Light up parliament, turn a car key
I could be a genius, you could be a cheat
It's a thin line, I'm fucking with it
I didn't choose the struggle but the struggle chose me
I'm bouncing on the rubble permanently
I'm cut from the cloth that you ain't made me
Driving down the alley these cats know me
If it's not cool, then we bring heat
If there's no heat then it's discreet
If it's got your feet then, it's on N.E.E.T
Anything on N.E.E.T. has got that beat

[Hook - Blaqstarr]
I really would like see the star shine
But the life getting covered up in hard time
Oh, oooh, I need to let loose
And the water ran dry, fill it up with juice
Oh, they need a believer

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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