MIA

this shit is bananas

ha, I think I was privately thinking "T/S 'B-A-N-A-N-A-S' vs 'BA-NA-NAAAH'" in my head all that year

i think there might actually be a thread to that effect somewhere

talking of pop stars being "activists", amerie is being super-eloquent and passionate about some new arizonan immigration law on twitter right now. where are the cnn articles lauding her for this.

so "banana skit" is an english lesson for refugees in which the practice word is "banana," the fruit so tied to colonialism/imperialism that it spawned the term "banana republic"?

english language/american culture as colonizing force

then again, sometimes a banana is just a banana

some of that too but mostly

it's fun to say banana

― dipset infiltrator (zvookster), Tuesday, April 27, 2010 3:41 PM Bookmark

“I wrote that because when I was at school that was the type of shit that you have to learn first when you’re an immigrant and you get sent to a special school to learn English. And I was always pronouncing everything really badly because the way you say it in Tamil is totally different. I mean, the syllables, the way they come out your mouth is so different: ba-na-na. And that’s how that came about. I just wanted to make quite autobiographical.”

i guess that makes sense? Did all 4000 rock critics who jizzed on the album understand that? Or did they all just blow by the fact that the first 45 seconds of the year's most "important" album kind of made no sense?

Really would like a run down of how critics in 2005 interpreted "banana skit"

there are racial connotations for the term "banana" re: asians, that's where my mind went with it

why does it have to make sense?

there are racial connotations for the term "banana" re: asians

rly??

yes rly

Btw. I've heard considerably better songs by MIA. This sounds like Björk about to be strangled by volcano ash.

think her own explanation p much covers it... also it's a skit not effing frantz fanon

welp, never heard that, in england

xpost

i have to admit this song has been in my head since watching the video.

lex: I'd be willing to wage Amerie is a hell of a lot ~smarter~ than Maya, but her politics are coming from an angle to which people are much more accustomed and is hence much less novel.

btw banana/twinkie:asians::oreo:african americans

xp

"it's just one thing that's got her trippin'" would be a good headline tho

Arular reviews that dont have the word "Banana" in them:

Pitchfork
Stylus
Allmusic
PopMatters
Austin Chronicle
Guardian
Dusted
Paste

Like the most critically acclaimed album of the decade and no one mentioned THE OPENING TRACK

oh ok. well, mia isn't "asian" as in east asian innit so nah bruv not seeing that.

xpost

xp you are seriously stressing about some incredibly minor shit

Christgau did!

Banana Skit" starts the album with her only message: "Get yourself an education."

I'm not stressin. I'm just saying, I had no idea wtf that skit was about and was wondering if the most written-about record of the decade included ppl pretending to know what it meant. And apparently no one dared.

Sri Lanka is south Asian fyi

xp

fucking in the streets was totally otm re banana skit, gj

but whatever I'll take her word for it. Banana is more of a N. American slang term anyway - which would explain why it occurred to me, but my not have been what she intended

xp

may not

that's why he said sri lanka isn't east asian mo

he/she

Shakey, "banana" is like a lost b-side to the album that is racial slurs in america

figured she was kickin it with diplo in the studio and he told her that joke about beethoven's favorite fruit

ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring banana phone

Any racial connotations with bananas in the UK were/are directed at black people rather than (South) Asians.

It's never crossed my mind before to even think about what the banana skit is about.

I like Born Free but mostly it makes me want to listen to Suicide.

i assumed whiney was being pointlessly facetious by harping on about that skit

i guess that makes sense? Did all 4000 rock critics who jizzed on the album understand that? Or did they all just blow by the fact that the first 45 seconds of the year's most "important" album kind of made no sense?

It's obviously an English lesson you fucking moron.

I mean, it's rubbish and a bit annoying and I'm willing to bet that most of those critics did exactly what I've done for years and skipped straight through to Pull Up The People after the first couple of listens, but still it's not exactly any great mystery.

skipped straight through to Pull Up The People after the first couple of listens

can't really imagine doing that tbh

I tend to skip skits whatever happens really.

yeah i skip skits 99% of the time too. one of my least favourite type of review is the one where the critic focuses overly on skits/intros/outros.

I usually only skip skits if they are non-musical

I tend to like little musical bits and pieces anyway

and the ones on Arular are kind of perfect imo

lol "skip" -- untick moar liek

I usually skip "Banana Skit", "Pull Up The People" and "Bucky Done Gun" altogether and play directly from "Fire Fire"/"Sunshowers" (depending on which version of the CD I'm playing); the only reason I skip "Banana Skit" is because it's easier to just start playing from track 4 since I don't really like the first two "real" tracks all that much.

I only like reviewing skits. I skip the songs.

there should be Greatest Skits comps

skits4u http://danteross.com/blogs/jzone/2009/07/13/j-zones-top-8-most-perplexing-hip-hop-skits/