M.I.A. - KALA

i don't think arular is thin, i just think it's not quite as sonically varied.

that's true, but kala's variation is in quality as well as styles

Eh, I disagree with that; IMO the whole album runs from fucking amazing to great with the most annoying "misstep" being "Jimmy".

"About a third of Kala is sludgy and tedious and barely listenable. And Arular had better songs and production, some stuff on Kala seems undersketched and the whole album sounds dry and brittle where Arular sounded warm and colorful."

THIS

the kala songs i dig i DIG, kwutimean? but the ones i don't care for i never wanna hear. meanwhile i can fuck with pretty much EVERYTHING on arular

gimmie these:

Bamboo Banger
Boys
Paper Planes
The one with the kids on it, holy shit

and that "teepee" line drains the album of likeability/cred, it's just a horrible, horrible moment

it's like the dead scream of whatever

I really started to love this album when I saw her in October 2007 – these songs boomed when performed.

Yeah, the "teepee" line is . . . regrettable.

lolz it says a lot for how much attention I pay to her lyrics that I have no fucking clue what song the infamous "teepee line" is in

you've got your priorities right, basically

That "teepee" joke is so bad it's funny. If it was Sarah Silverman guest-rapping you all would have laughed at it.

lolz irony of ironies that it's in noted amazing lyricist Timbaland's verse on "Come Around"

has there been a arular v. kala poll yet?

Kala blew me away a couple of months ago when I relistened. The lyrics, such as I understand them...I'm ambiguous about them morally, but that's part of what makes it interesting.

much prefer kala to arular. you folks saying arular is "warm and colorful" and kala is "dry and brittle" are weird.

the one with the kids is fucking terrible.

don't get the Jimmy hate. one of the best tracks on the album

so is Mango Pickle! (ie the one with the kids)

maybe I just like MIA for all the wrong reasons

the one with the kids is fucking awesome and most of them are better rappers than she is

i put that shit on and i'm like yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

with the most annoying "misstep" being "Jimmy".

Haha, for a while that was the only song on the album I could abide.

ftr, for those who like "Mango Pickle Down River":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQgIk3fV8zI&feature=player_embedded

i like jimmy a lot, can't stand mango.

really hoos? i feel like i've heard more than a few kids who could rap circles around those kids.

(btw I know the same point I made about MPDR can be made about "URAQT" but I also like the original version of that one)

don't get the Jimmy hate. one of the best tracks on the album

I like the song very much, but the music is almost completely lifted from that Bollywood film score, isn't it? Her vocals were okay, and the lyrics are hardly the best on the disc (they are a nice change-of-pace from the vague political/radical themes). It seems to me that much of the credit for this song has to go to the original, unless there's something I'm missing about her remake.

You guys are making me want to play this for the first time in two years. I will say that "Mango Pickle" kind of sums up my feelings about the album as a whole -- it's just kind of half-assed. I definitely got sick of Arular after a while, but at least it felt like a solid collection of songs.

really hoos? i feel like i've heard more than a few kids who could rap circles around those kids.

― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, October 1, 2009 8:49 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

lol not cause they're all baby rakims or w/e they just have a lot of personality

I like the song very much, but the music is almost completely lifted from that Bollywood film score, isn't it?

omg a rapper sampled something

wait OMG a rapper sampled something I already love!

its like chocolate in my peanut butter.

There is absolutely nothing half-assed about the first three songs on Kala. Disorienting, yeah, but not half-assed, not in the slightest!

Unless you're Hammer, usually rappers take a snippet of another song, and integrate it into their own work. Sometimes they even tinker with it, to suit their needs! I have heard this in action, and I believe it is the future.

(xp)

lolz @ "usually"

there's this guy, Puffy...

Seriously, I love all three MIA albums. And I love that song Jimmy. I just think it's less of an accomplishment than the rest of the disc, since it leans so heavily on the original's music.

Sorry if I seemed like an ass. I've been accused of that lately.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5qk2q_mia-uraqt-lip-dub_shortfilms

...huh

Oh yeah. Hammer and Puffy.

yeah, first three songs are so good that i don't really care about the rest of the record.

Naturally the songs from Kala that people are hating on here are the ones that I actually like.

time for a worst-song poll...

(ducks)

worst outfit would probably make a lot more sense here, no?

best outfit was pregnant-rapper duds on the grammys.

yep.

god that was so awesome

otm

"Jimmy" got played at my wedding.

ftr I like "Jimmy" a lot more now than I did when I first got the album but I'm still very likely to skip it and blast "Hussel" instead.

Loved Kala when it came out, gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars, I think, but did tend to skip over what struck me as less hooky tracks like "Mango Pickle" and "Hussel" (I also never liked "Boys").

Pleasantly surprised to re-listen all the way through recently and now adore most of the stuff I didn't care for initially. There's something offhand and, I don't know, visual (?) about "Mango Pickle" that I just didn't get initially. It feels more like a little scene from a movie than a song or something? Whatever, it really grabbed me this time. Also, the synth riff in "Hussel" kind of rules. "Jimmy" was the one that didn't hold up for me so great, though it's fine. Only one that still annoyed me for some reason (the vocals, I think) was "XR2." But overall the thing blows away the debut, from which I still love three or four tracks and can live without the rest.

the deadpan vocals on "XR2" are kind of my favorite thing about it

the one with the kids is fucking awesome and most of them are better rappers than she is

If there's a better one-line summary of "Kala", then I've yet to read it.

Funny how all the biggest MIA fans don't care much for "Mango Pickle", and vice versa.

i'm a huge m.i.a. fan and i love that track.

so there.

(and talking about whether she's a "good rapper" misses the point by so large a margin that it's not worth discussing.)