M.I.A. - KALA

'$20' is amazing too. really fucking amazing. it's half an amazing album i think now. the bits i don't like are like someone banging some bin lids together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9_Dk_F98cU

ehehehehehehehe

The difference? You don't see any difference between The Fresh Prince sampling the most popular Clash song for a dance hit and an artist who was basically itinerant for a year while producing songs all around the world, using guests with zero cache? Not trying to make M.I.A. out to be some angel with the cards stacked against her or anything, but christ ...

I'm also in favor of more kid MCs.

i don't understand what difference that makes, no

MIA wasn't west philadelphia, born and raised either

SHE'S AN ART SCHOOL GRAD WITH A RECORD DEAL WHO TRAVELLED THE WORLD, GIVE HER A BREAK ALREADY.

WHEN SHE SAMPLES FAMOUS SONGS SHE'S NOT DOING IT FROM THE SAME PALACE OF PRIVILEGE AS WILL SMITH

If Will Smith was any good, surely he'd have worked with Diplo?

DJ Jazzy Jeff was merely the Diplo of his time y/n

god i felt dirty even saying that jokingly, Jazz please kick Diplo out of Philly the way Uncle Phil used to kick you out of the house in Bel Air

Heh. Well I guess the difference is getting more out of the sample than just a hook.

Over-thinking a sample can kill it but ... it doesn't strike me as a cut/paste boring sample. First, they flipped the melody of the sample and gave it a diff. emotional resonance (doesn't sound as dark as it does in the original). Plus, M.I.A./Kala plays around w/ globalization themes in almost every aspect (lyrically, musically, production-wise, etc.). If a listener finds globalization as Kala's leitmotif, then using the "Straight to Hell" sample will probably resonate more.

If you're just bangin' "Paper Planes," the sample might not seem that different from any other sample. My gf doesn't know a damn thing about the Clash and loves the song, so it's nice to see that M.I.A./Switch didn't shoe-horn the sample into the song. It just comes off as organic (which is good), and just gets better when you realize where the sample comes from.

WHEN SHE SAMPLES FAMOUS SONGS SHE'S NOT DOING IT FROM THE SAME PALACE OF PRIVILEGE AS WILL SMITH

True, but I'm sure she would've liked to visit her BKLN apartment. I think I said itinerant, not poor. And to be fair, I don't think she's really projecting herself as an abject musician busking around the world. BUT I GUESS SHE'S A LOT EASIER TO DISMISS IF YOU THINK SHE IS.

TS: "where were you in 92?" vs. "we gonna party like it's 19-- hold up, it is!"

haha nice weave, Jamesy

http://members.aol.com/DoReEgon/carleton_banks.jpg

My gf doesn't know a damn thing about the Clash and loves the song, so it's nice to see that M.I.A./Switch didn't shoe-horn the sample into the song.

This is also some interesting logic.

My gf doesn't know a damn thing about Gloria Estefan, so it's nice to see that Ma$e/Diddy didn't shoe-horn the sample into the song.

if only puffy had veiled his hit making prowess in vague references to globalism

"Been Around The World" was just too overt

When Will Smith went to African in Ali, it really gave me an appreciation for his 'forget me nots' rip for "MIB"

*Africa

I'm sure Puffy had the chance to work with Elastica, he turned it down, don't go bitching about the consequences.

I'm getting into Kala a lot more than I did Arular, but the kind of mindless accolades she's getting makes me want to just write her off as a less magnetic, more pretentious Neneh Cherry. "Buffalo Stance" >>> "Boyz"

haha I forgot about the Elastica connection, I guess her song-borrowing is more like lifting Wire riffs than jiggy rap samples.

Whose rap cameo was worse: Timbaland on "Come Around" or Michael Stipe on "Trout"?

TS: Elastica vs. Rip Rig 'n' Panic

I never totally understood the Neneh Cherry thing -- is it just shorthand for "non-white, raised in Europe, sings vaguely political dance-pop"? Has M.I.A. herself ever acknowledged Cherry as an influence?

I think it's because they both dress like shit.

Spent her young adulthood rolling with post-punkers, released an album of vaguely political dance-pop (with a not particularly dissimilar visual style) that critics jizzed their brains out over. Though Neneh was actually had a hit to go with her hype.

Hell if I know or care whether Cherry is an acknowledged influence, she's an obvious touchstone.

Neneh Cherry's background and art cred are, like, what?

I don't hear the connection to N Cherry:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1S_0YGO9v2w

Cherry is far more conventional

"Hell if I know or care whether Cherry is an acknowledged influence, she's an obvious touchstone."

Yeah all those ethnic arty chicks are alike dontchyaknow!

I don't want to just congratulate MIA on the back and say, "WOW Yr LYRICS ARE GLOBALLY-THEMED IS THERE A NEWSLETTRE I MAY SUBSCRIBE TO?" 'Cause that's kinda how I feel when I'm spouting about all this stuff. It's just refreshing to know that there might be some fun/interesting layers beneath all of it.

My gf doesn't know a damn thing about Gloria Estefan, so it's nice to see that Ma$e/Diddy didn't shoe-horn the sample into the song.

Oh fuck, that's right, I forgot that "Straight to Hell" was a HUGE single over here. My badz. Still trying to wrap my head around the N.Cherry comparison ... I mean, I know it's easy to confuse the two ... the DO sound totally alike ...

Yeah all those ethnic arty chicks are alike dontchyaknow!

Don't be facetious, dude, I'm not comparing her to Diamanda Galas or something.

I never said they were identical, but to pretend there are NO distinct similarities to their aesthetics and critical reception is really willful.

deej's WHY DO YOU GUYS ONLY HATE SAMPLING WHEN PUFFY AND WILL SMITH DO IT posts are pretty funny.

"I never said they were identical, but to pretend there are NO distinct similarities to their aesthetics and critical reception is really willful."

I think the similarities are largely the fact that they are non-white and female. You get a gold star for figuring that out! Woo hoo for you!

Oh wait and some critics like them both too! In fact some of the SAME critics. That's a real touchpoint there too. Can't forget that.

I can see where you're coming from, croupier, although I don't think Neneh Cherry would be anyone's first thought after hearing MIA.

Well, either way, I wouldn't mind if "Paper Planes" is MIA's "Buffalo Stance."

What was M.I.A.'s Rip Rig & Panic again?

alex in sf restating people's arguments so they're making entirely different ones is pretty funny

How exactly did I restate this "you guys all hated puffy for doing the same thing, except mase was a better rapper" so it was an entirely different argument again, deej?

Alex in SF, fighting cultural hegemony by all means necessary, on all threads necessary.

CLEAN UP THE THREADS!/CLEAN UP THE BOARDS!
CLEAN UP THE THREADS!/CLEAN UP THE BOARDS!

Catch-y, right?

Spent her young adulthood rolling with post-punkers, released an album of vaguely political dance-pop (with a not particularly dissimilar visual style) that critics jizzed their brains out over.

otm. which is enough to namedrop neneh in re: m.i.a., not that the comparison says anything in particular about how m.i.a. sounds. but it's not like a completely ridiculous thing to say. (simon reynolds' invocation of ari up is even more apt, except he meant it as an insult and i don't.)

I think its worthwhile to acknowledge when two artists share a similar cultural space or aesthetic. Especially when people are tripping over themselves to declare them an unprecedented innovator. I'm sorry if their being of the same gender is offensive to you, Alex.

How exactly did I restate this "you guys all hated puffy for doing the same thing, except mase was a better rapper" so it was an entirely different argument again, deej?

by turning it into 'you guys don't like sampling only when its done by will smith and puffy'

I feel like the big straw man is that people are jizzing their brains out over MIA because the political stuff. It's there, but I think MIA could be completely divorced from any politics and still hold up fine. It's just an added dimension that isn't usually a staple of dancey pop music.

Painting her as just another jerggoff wearing a terr'r-bandana at a Motherfucker party in the name of radical-chic doesn't really fit.

And fwiw, in the 600 posts in this thread, I don't think "innovative" has come up once. Just trying to separate slobberbloggers from, you know, what people are actually saying here.

Yeah, when I said "people" I didn't just mean ILXors. Though I don't think MIA would remotely get the same kind of press and acclaim without the political background. It's almost always the hook in any article.

when did jizzing become the shorthand for expressing any enthusiasm for a song/artist at all? i blame Freud.

I don't want to just congratulate MIA on the back

people are jizzing their brains out over MIA

cue luriqua or and what to show up and make some pervy comment about "boy i'd like to congratulate MIA on her back/jizz my brains out over MIA, amirite?"