MIA

My point being, this line of attack is the same old tired bs as pointing out that Joe Strummer's dad used to be a diplomat - crying "fake" and "hypocrite" because someone isn't poor enough. She says enough stupid shit that this is really the least interesting and substantial criticism you could make.

Re: her Google/Facebook daftness, I just finished reading David Aaronovitch's Voodoo Histories, which got me thinking about why so many politicised pop stars shoot themselves in the foot by swallowing conspiracy theories wholesale. I wonder if there's a psychological overlap between the semi-justified paranoia of fame (yes, people really ARE looking at you and recording what you say) and tin-hat craziness about the CIA trying to get you. When you read old Public Enemy interviews, it's immensely dispiriting to see Chuck shift from a real grievance to conspiracy-theorist claptrap. There's enough genuine malfeasance out there - you don't need to start making shit up.

xpost. I think part of the problem is generational. She's trying to mix old-fashioned PE/Clash underdog rhetoric with post-gangsta-rap, "fuck you, I'm rich now" triumphalism, so you get this weird dissonance when it comes to money. If she were a little bit more articulate about examining this contradiction then she could avoid all these truffle-fry gotchas.

She isn't a revolutionary using art to achieve a political goal, she's an artist using revolutionary rhetoric to achieve an artistic goal. I don't know why the press all fell all over themselves to treat her like an actual terrorist* but it's kind of clear from reading her interviews and listening to her music that she is much more about turning tragedy into fashion than she is about educating people on the nuances of foreign policy. At most, I think her main political goal is to get people to recognize that third-world issues are important rather than to encourage people to take a specific side (obv she has her stance on the Tamils but she talks about more than just Sri Lanka) but that is way less important to her than making dance music. It's basically the world's most unnecessary takedown, like someone doing an incisive hatchet job on Kanye West's ego.

Obviously being unnecessary doesn't stop it from being funny.

* well actually I do ("don't let the brown skin fool you") but let's not get into that

hope it was worth it for lynn hirschberg to finally have her "buy them fries, write about them eating fries" bit outed.

Developing world bling is very much a THING with young post-Colonial Britishes with family ties to Africa, South Asia and Turkey - some of my friends from these backgrounds (many of whom work in fashion or graphics) don't like MIA because they are also from politically interesting refugee families and think she could be a bit more rigorous. One Turkish friend just thinks she'd make a much better pop star than Maya.

Posting that recording was so petty but it made lol. "They do lots of different fries here. The truffle ones are the fanciest. Btw, get what you want, the NYT's paying." *winks, sits back, waits* "Ooh, look at you, Miss Fancy Pants."

xpost im not saying she has to come up with papers outlining the state benefits her family got as a kid or anything, shes just a bit try hard, though hey, i do like that she is trying to bring politics, even superficially learnt/poseury ones, into pop music.

"she is much more about turning tragedy into fashion than she is about educating people on the nuances of foreign policy"

her thing is her fabulous life story first and foremost, though even that is a very familar hip hop trajectory, its just articulated better, and comes with massive dollops of confused terrorist/outlaw/politico etc posturing

what is 'world bling'?

when do you stop complaining about people being "just a bit try hard" when they're actually incredibly successful at what they do

hi dere OTM

shes incredibly succesful at talking up and selling her hard childhood if thats what you mean

she's incredibly successful at selling truffle fries. I looked for some this weekend and couldn't find any :(

shes actually sort of like the female brit-asian 50 cent isnt she? cleverly playing on various familiar ethnic poverty tropes that people like.

Find me someone successful, in any field, who isn't good at selling their hard childhood. You hear the I-clawed-my-way-up-from-nothing narrative everywhere: business, journalism, art, movies, music.

every successful person is "a bit try hard" iirc

i blame hollywood

i blame physics

its a good story though

my dad tells a similiar story

part fact (he def wasnt rich), part fiction (his dad had a small business), and he def was pretty poor when he arrived in london

but we still tell him he over exaggerates it

its fun

what kind of fries does he eat

he doesnt.

hes an outsider.

She isn't even that successful - one big hit in the US and only one top 40 hit AT ALL in the UK. Paper Planes aside, how many records has she actually sold? It seems to be de facto accepted that she's a massive pop star when she isn't really, and this album could well flop.

You just gotta wonder if her now-posh life and super successful music career has anything to do with her marrying the son of Edgar Bronfman, Jr. the CEO of Warner Music Group.

otoh most people we know have MIA mp3s xp

I guess being on the Grammy's is a step up to success?

It didn't help Edgar Jr. much with HIS band, eh?

Developing-world bling is stuff like heavy gold jewelry, Cazals, dyed hair, WAH! Nails, Kente cloth, flags incorporated into designs, graffiti and fluoro trainers, all mixed up together. It's a bit like being dragged through Ridley Road market backwards.

uh I mean Ben! Point stands.

zzzzzz wake me when this chick marries a sri lankan and beats up the dude from PM dawn

shes actually sort of like the female brit-asian 50 cent isnt she? cleverly playing on various familiar ethnic poverty tropes that people like.

― truffle-flavoured french fry (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, June 1, 2010 10:34 AM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

unperson, all is forgiven

zzzzzz wake me when this chick marries a sri lankan and beats up the dude from PM dawn

Would you settle for MIA swinging from the girders at the MTV Music Awards while Gaga accepts an award and says "this is what pop music is about?"

it's a deal!

shes actually sort of like the female brit-asian 50 cent isnt she? cleverly playing on various familiar ethnic poverty tropes that people like.

― truffle-flavoured french fry (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, June 1, 2010 10:34 AM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha 50 Cent is so canny he actually went so far as to actually grow up in poverty, what a po-mo trickster

He was playing a long con.

m.i.a. went to the same primary school as me!

like 8 years before me though obvv

she's incredibly successful at selling truffle fries. I looked for some this weekend and couldn't find any :(

― Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, June 1, 2010 10:30 AM (1 hour ago)

poll: how many ILXORs spent their weekend looking for truffle fries & were you successful or not?

I didn't but I made a mental note when I read this article that was linked on the NYT q&a thread:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2011906512_pacificpfoodhunt30.html

the author mentions that he was able to buy truffle oil for $3 with food stamps. so it can't be that hoity-toity after all!

Maybe truffle oil and Smirnoff Ice are both running the ultimate in viral campaigns right now.

BROS TRUFFLING BROS

u kno what's up

*sees dog with bottle of truffle oil tied to back* aw man, I totally gotta drizzle truffle oil all over these fries now :/

BROS TRUFFLING BROS

A++

dogs are the new pack mules

"haha 50 Cent is so canny he actually went so far as to actually grow up in poverty, what a po-mo trickster"

oh so youre saying mia didnt? classist.

I know nothing of MIA outside of the Aziz Ansari Tamil joke. Is there more Ansari/MIA material around?

Lex can settle this by telling us what his primary school was like xp. Eton feeder or borderline borstal?

So much for truffle fries, I'm just worried '/\/\/\Y/\' will the rubbish.

gah 'the rubbish'....the point is we could all use another great album from her.

we could all use another great album from anyone

Your monogram seems like it should be a wrestling federation logo.

or you could add weezer wings to the Ws

It's not rubbish but it has problems that the first two didn't. Can't really say any more than that on a public forum. Because the CIA are watching me.