Released: October 21, 2013

Songwriter: M.I.A. J. Brightman Jerry Leembruggen Ruben Fernhout

Producer: The Partysquad

[Intro]
YALA
YALA

[Hook]
Go low, go slow
Roll like a pollo
Up and down a pole
Like you’re glowing up a yo-yo
Go low, go slow
Roll like a pollo
Up and down a pole
Like you’re glowing up a yo-yo

[Interlude]
Yeah yeah, YOLO
Yeah yeah, YOLO
Alarms go off when I enter the building

[Bridge]
YALA
YALA
YALA

[Verse 1]
I drink some Cointreau
Keep it in my poncho
Light up like Castro
Blow it up from get go
Pro when I set, go
Grow like an afro
Play like Ronaldo
Hard like I'm Death Row
Weight in kilo
Light as a pillow
Dance on my tip-toe
Like I tae-box though

[Pre-Hook]
Yeah we come come come
Yeah we come with some some
Get a glass of rum
With a gun and some pun pun
Oh fun fun fun
Let's get 'em undone
Take a hit on the bong
It’s been so long since we hung

[Hook]
Go low, go slow
Roll like a pollo
Up and down a pole
Like you’re glowing up a yo-yo
Go low, go slow
Roll like a pollo
Up and down a pole
Like you’re glowing up a yo-yo

[Bridge]
YALA
YALA

[Verse 2]
Anti war war
M.I.A. underscore
I got the law law
Searching for me on tour
Bankin offshore
Take a trip to Singapore
I need to earn like
I'm Julianne Moore
For the hour poor
Don’t wanna ignore
That’s why I say shit
So they can explore
My baby, I amore
My mommy I adore
I tried to stay pure
Can’t take it anymore

[Pre-Hook]
Yeah we come come come
Yeah we come with some some
Get a glass of rum
With a gun and some pun pun
Oh fun fun fun
Let's get 'em undone
Take a hit on the bong
It’s been so long since we hung

[Hook]
Go low, go slow
Roll like a pollo
Up and down a pole
Like you’re glowing up a yo-yo
Go low, go slow
Roll like a pollo
Up and down a pole
Like you’re glowing up a yo-yo

[Interlude]

[Bridge]
YALA
YALA
YALA

[Verse 3]
YALA, YALA
I’m rolling solo
You can't take a photo
I’mma keep it raw raw

[Bridge]
YALA
YALA

[Pre-Hook]
Yeah we come come come
Yeah we come with some some
Get a glass of rum
With a gun and some pun pun
Oh fun fun fun
Let's get 'em undone
Take a hit on the bong
It’s been so long since we hung

[Hook]
Go low, go slow
Roll like a pollo
Up and down a pole
Like you’re glowing up a yo-yo

[Outro]
YOLO? I don’t even know anymore, what that even mean though
If you only live once why we keep doing the same shit
Back home where I come from we keep being born again and again and again
That’s why they invented karma

M.I.A.

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.