Buss covers MIA’s “Bad Girls”.

A bit off topic, but this one had us on the floor a couple of times. Enjoy.
]]> http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/12/20/snl-goofs-on-kanye-m-i-a-others-in-buble-sketch/feed/ 0 http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/01/04/m-i-a-vicki-leekx/ http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/01/04/m-i-a-vicki-leekx/#comments Wed, 05 Jan 2011 03:14:24 +0000 http://www.hiphopsite.com/?p=28397

M.I.A. surprises us all with this year end New Year’s mix of new material, not included on MAYA.

M.I.A. – “Vicki Leekx” (Mixtape)

M.I.A. brings a truly exotic visual to the newest single from her “MAYA” album, available now.

M.I.A. gets metaphysical in her “XXXO” video, taken from her new LP, MAYA, in stores now.

M.I.A. exploded onto the hipster music scene in 2005 with the release of her debut LP, Arular, named after her Sir Lankin revolutionary father. The album was an indie classic, filled with bittersweet B-More and dancehall tinged political jams that truly allowed listeners to party for the right to fight. The rest of the world caught up with the tastemakers with the release of her flawed but still solid second LP, Kala, named after her mother, largely in part to it’s lead single “Paper Planes”, which was freestyled over by just about everyone (including 50 Cent, Trey Songz, and Bun B, to name a few), catching on after it’s use in trailers for Pineapple Express. The song shortly thereafter led to T.I.’s “Swagger Like Us”, built off a line from “Paper Planes”, while each T.I., Jay-Z, Kanye, and Lil Wayne rapped over it. Her pregnant award-show appearance performing the track on stage with all four rappers had solidified her presence in the game; M.I.A. had arrived.

The road leading up to her third LP, ///Y/ (pronounced “Maya”, her own name), was a bumpy one, first finding the artist venomously spewing hatred at Lady Gaga for swagger-jacking on Wale’s “Lookin’ At Me”. Things got even worse when she angrily retaliated at a New York Times interviewer by releasing his phone number over the internet. Early reviews for Maya have been largely mixed, even prompting one ?uestlove to ask: damn. didn’t know M.I.A.’s NYT’s antics came at a price (my question is…is this payback and a message from the press on some “we made you we’ll break you” ish? cause i can’t believe all of a sudden she made such a putrid album that these reviews are ready to pounce on her like this—ive seen mediocre albums get a “pass” in the name of love—since half yall—psssh since all of yall following me on twitter….will any journalist actually admit that this pan is more payback for maya putting a journalist’s phone number on the net than it is she made a bad record?

Is Maya a bad record? No. Is it a good record? Not really. But the critical consensus has nothing to do with her being a cunt. The difference here was her first album knocked the ball right out of the park. Her second LP pushed the boundaries a little too far, but was excusable as it still had some great moments. Maya attempts to go the way of Coldcut, The Bomb Squad and El-P and perfect the art of noise, but in many places falls flat.

It starts off well, with the well thought out conceptual intro “The Message”, which sets up a theme of anti-internet paranoia that runs throughout the album. The raw, aggro boom of “Steppin’ Up” follows and gets it right, suggesting we’re in for an experimental sonic tour-de-force, while “XXXO” is a dark and lovely melodic pop track that is executed perfectly. The ode to her favorite drugs and alcohol, “Teqkilla” attempts to appeal to rapper sensibilities, but pushes it just a bit too far.

The middle of the album is where things begin to fall short. She begins to prattle along aimlessly with an uninspiring crop of tracks, each a far cry from anything on her first two records. Yawn inducing tracks like “Lovalot” and “It Iz What It Iz” drag the album down, and while both “Story To Be Told” and the dub-flavored “It Takes A Muscle” might work as great backdrops to your next blunt session, don’t seem to work in this context.

We get a brief wake up call with the lead single, “Born Free”, a bold Sleigh Bells featured punk rock track that sticks in your head like it’s video that you can’t un-see, while the Diplo produced “Meds and Feds” follows, begging the question as to why he was only used for one track. (The reason being that M.I.A.’s baby daddy hates him. So there’s that.)

The album closes out with two lazy additions, “Tell Me Why” and “Space”, where she lackadaisically references Puzzle Bubble (yes, really), not leaving things on a good note. Things dwell even deeper into mediocrity on the deluxe edition, which tacks on an extra four tracks that were not good enough to make the final cut. And for an album that’s only average, one can imagine the amount of quality included herein.

It takes a rare talent to turn random sounds into music that people want to listen to, and we’ve seen the aforementioned artists Coldcut, El-P, and Public Enemy perfect this. But when an artist attempts to do this and fails, they fall hard. Perhaps the biggest mistake made on Maya is her assumption that she is in the position to “do anything”, rather than just to make the kind of music we all fell in love with five years ago in the first place. While unfortunately the fads of B-More and baile-funk rhythms have faded, surely there’s a better direction to take her music than what is found on Maya. Better luck next time.

M.I.A. performs her lead single to Maya on Letterman. Album in stores now.

“Swagger Like Us” was just the warm up… Jay and M.I.A. finally share the same space – we have a feeling she’ll return the favor for his next LP.

LISTEN: M.I.A. – “XXXO (Remix)” (feat. Jay-Z)

And the new album is called…wait for it…./ / / Y / . That’s pronounced Maya – her name. Makes sense, after her first two albums, Arular and Kala, were named after her parents. We predict her fourth album will be called Ikhyd, after her baby. Check out the album’s first single, “XXXO”.

Second single from Ms. Arular’s third LP, which is still as of yet untitled, but set for a July 13th release. Like “Born Free”, she’s going for a more rock-tinged sound this time around, but this track is a bit more accessible with it’s darker take on the love song. Listen to it below, then purchase it at Itunes. Remember, piracy funds terrorism.

LISTEN: M.I.A. – “XXXO”

M.I.A. revealed the first official single from her forthcoming, as of yet untitled third LP, with “Born Free”, which samples Suicide’s “Ghost Rider”. The video is directed by Romain Gavras and is extremely graphic, viewer discretion is advised. In related news, M.I.A. released the tracklisting for her upcoming LP, which you can see here.

In a recent interview with New York Magazine’s Vulture site, Sri Lankan singer M.I.A. had some fighting words for Lady Gaga, and didn’t hold back one bit.

I don’t know. Again, there’s Lady Gaga — people say we’re similar, that we both mix all these things in the pot and spit them out differently, but she spits it out exactly the same! None of her music’s reflective of how weird she wants to be or thinks she is. She models herself on Grace Jones and Madonna, but the music sounds like 20-year-old Ibiza music, you know? She’s not progressive, but she’s a good mimic. She sounds more like me than I f—ing do! That’s a talent and she’s got a great team behind her, but she’s the industry last’s stab at making itself important — saying, ‘You need our money behind you, the endorsements, the stadiums’ Respect to her, she’s keeping a hundred thousand people in work, but my belief is: Do It Yourself.”

Check out the full interview here.

This might be just what this song needed. – DJ Pizzo

The album opens with “Bamboo Banga”, employing a pumping bassline that builds as it progresses, as M.I.A. hypnotically delivers her lyrics. Producer Switch also employs this same type of hyper up-tempo rhythm on “World Town”, but is one-upped on “XR2″, as partner Diplo co-produces this ridiculous Baltimore house influenced track. Here, M.I.A. trades her usual energetic high voiced cries for a more laid back, breathy delivery.

While M.I.A. seems to work best over B-more beats, she’s isn’t afraid to embrace her cultural heritage. “Bird Flu” is probably the best way to describe the track of the same name, as this truly sick beat employs a heavy drum riddim, along with chicken squawks and the chants of Sri Lankin children. In this heavily self-referencing track, M.I.A. shuns conviction bragging “Heard the call to be a Roc-A-Wear model / didn’t really drop that way, my legs hit the hurdle / heard the call to be a rocker on a label / didn’t really drop that way, my beats were too evil”. The chanting “Boyz” follows, another ill combination of B-more and dancehall rhythms, that you can’t help but at least nod your head to and perhaps even shake your ass to (gasp!).

With her second album, M.I.A. doesn’t really stick to the script, thinking outside the box a bit. “Jimmy” is kind of a poppy love song with a beat that sounds like it came from a Bollywood disco soundtrack, while “Paper Planes” finds M.I.A. singing about hustling over a slow-rolling, mellow bass-built beat.

These selections are decent, but unfortunately the album hits a series of snags in it’s second half. The biggest mistake here is “Mango Pickle Down River”, where M.I.A. invites a group of nine-year old boys (The Wilcannia Mob) to rhyme alongside her. The results are disastrous, to say the least, in something that could have been have been shaved down to a 30-second skit, rather than a four-minute snoozer. After you are all nice and bored out of your mind, the anemic pair of “20 Dollar” and “The Turn”, which follow, don’t help the situation. Thankfully, the Timbaland produced “Come Around”, which closes the album out helps redeem things a bit, but truthfully isn’t the banger we expected from this long-awaited collaboration.

Perhaps the reason why M.I.A.’s debut was so well received was because expectations weren’t as high as they are in the case of Kala. Kala has its moments, but this time around M.I.A. has a hard time picking a style, as she is all over the map with a cavalcade of different sounds. It’s also noted that she seems to have taken less of a political stance this time around, which is to be expected, as this album is inspired by her mother, rather than her father. Truth be told though, Arular’s mix of danceable songs laced with politically charged lyrics are what made it such a gem in the first place. Kala has it’s moments, but ultimately we’d be picking Arular in a game of “Sophie’s Choice”. – D.T. Swinga

    The apple doesn’t fall from the tree, making M.I.A. just as concerned with political issues as her father, trading sword for pen. The album immediately catches your attention when the disjointed bounce of “Pull Up The People” kicks in, where her agenda is made clear: “You no like the people / the people no like you / then they go and set it off / with a big boom / every gun in a battle has a son and daughter too.” It’s followed by the ridiculous “Bucky Don Gun”, where producer Diplo rings the alarm with a mix of Rocky-esque horns and classic Miami bass, where M.I.A. fuses commands of “get crunk” with “I’ll fight you just to get peace”. 

     The mixture of dancehall riddims with powerful political messages is nothing new – it’s been happening in reggae for years, but M.I.A. adds a new dimension to the style – more electronic, less rootsy. Both “Fire Fire” and the radio ready “Galang” are perfect examples of this, with undeniable movement and energy. She also tackles topics such as the prostitution of women in third world countries, on  “10 Dollar” and “Amazon”, but also embraces the empowerment of female sexuality on “Hombre” and the ridiculous “URAQT”, which freaks a chopped Sanford and Son sample to the hilt.

    Put it all together and you’ve got one of the most interesting, fun, exciting, original, sexy, enjoyable, energetic, controversial, surprising, and smart releases of the year. With remarkable consistency, M.I.A is a natural emcee that effortlessly shines on virtually every song here, leaving never a dull moment – even the skits, such as “Dash The Curry”, which ended too soon. Where Fergie, JJ Fad, Sista Souljah, and Ms. Thing failed, M.I.A. somehow combines elements of each personality trait into a winning combination. Fire Fire!