M.I.A.’s successes – Mercury and Shortlist Awards for her 2005 breakthrough Arular; an eye-opening around-the-world journey to write, record and produce her second album, Kala; her extensive visual art accomplishments; and her efforts to bring the plight of the Sudanese, Liberians and her own Sri Lankan people to the mainstream – are myriad. And so are her struggles: her well-documented early childhood was spent fleeing between war-torn Sri Lanka and India before landing in government housing in her native England, while her father, a Tamil activist, hid from the Sri Lankan army during that country’s civil war. And more recently, she lashed out against Internet rumors perpetuating the falsehood that it was DJ-producer-sometimes-boyfriend Diplo, and not M.I.A., who actually masterminded Arular.
But despite the fact that M.I.A.’s a human collage: a hypnotic, hyper-aware, hyper-colored, multi-cultural, multi-talented mash-up of international sounds – from hip-hop to dancehall to baile funk to ragga and back – and ideas – from war and poverty, sex and disease and sexism, to racism and identity, hegemonic masculinity and the Bush administration – and forget the fact that she’s got more music cred than 100 artists strong, what we ultimately admire about M.I.A. isn’t her ability to look amazing in fluorescent colors, bright lipstick and stretchy pants. (Yet it’s that too.) It’s that she’s living proof that one person – one young woman – using just a 505, some Bollywood samples and razor-sharp wit and lyrics – can actually raise consciousness and expose global suffering and indignity.
Without much more than her family, her inner spirit and her bootstraps, M.I.A. pulled herself up out of strife, turned up the volume on global voices previously unheard by the mainstream masses and issued a call to action to “get crackin’” and “pull up the people.” And that’s why we’re celebrating the unparalleled fearless female all week as MTV’s Artist Of The Week.
Watch “Boyz,” M.I.A.’s latest video, below. Plus, watch her narrate her life story on “A.D.D. Bio,”, see M.I.A.’s exclusive mtvU interviews, and check out photos of M.I.A. and her crew (including her brother), shooting her MTV Artist Of The Week TV spots in L.A. — you can see all of M.I.A’s MTV video spots right here. And, of course, catch her all week on MTV.
(Credit: Lyndsay Siegel)
Filed Under: Artist Of The Week, Celebrity, Diplo, M.I.A., Music, Videos
http://www.groovevolt.com/thesuite/mia.asp
AND recent photos of MIA's performance at NY Terminal 5 and joining fellow performers Spank Rock & Santogold at the Filmore all at:
www.music-by-me.blogspot.com
Mtv need to play more of her videos.
She is so exciting to listen to!!
She influenced my style alot.
butwhat happened to diplo
http://www.myspace.com/brianciaga
she deserves it!!!!!!! I just cant wait for her to have a concert in New York 20 Dollar is the bomb!!
M.I.A. is the soundtrack to every activists life!
much love to maya. represent the world town.
and don't you forget it ya'll, we're ALL apart of the revolution.
make change! make change! make change!
I love her! she is the BEST artist EVER and is a beautiful soul!!!
She is so much more. She is a creative artist that uses her third-world upbringing to her advantage to express it in music. The songs have alot to do with growing up in the slums of her war torn country, and how they get by. She doesn't give a flying F**K about what people think about her lyrics and style, and thats what I like.
So keep listening to your Britney and J.Holiday.
PLAYED GOOD MUSIC??? KNOW EVERYTHING ON MTV SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BADLY I'M TIRED OF
HERING RICH PPL COMPLAIN ALL DAMN DAY ABOUT THERE DAMN LIFE. SHIET I COULD HEAR THAT CRAP AT STARBUKS INSTEAD ON THE T.V.
DAMN T.V. THESE DAYS SUCKS BALLLS!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT EVER HAPPEN 2 THE GOOD MUSIC???????
SO HOTT ON THE CHARTS!
the last comment??
lol if i didnt
like i said
before
this song is pretty
pimp' :D
its all crazzi talk.
I UNDERSTAND THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE DON'T LISTEN TO HER MUSIC BECAUSE OF SOME OF THINGS SHE SAYS BUT YOU JUST GOTTA FEEL WHAT SHE SAYS AND LISTEN TO IT!!!! IT'S INFLUENTIAL AND DIFFERENT...THE U.S. IS DEFINITELY NOT READY.