MIA

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/05/01/article-0-096222CC000005DC-367_468x682.jpg

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1270231/M-I-A-s-controversial-redhead-genocide-music-video-banned-YouTube.html

shd be some blogworthy invective in the hys before long

Speaking to TMZ.com, he said: 'The video is definitely not for kids - I haven't even seen the full video myself - but, for all the adults and people in different countries who are doing that (killing people) in real life... doing the genocides to whatever - Italians, Africans, wherever it's from, it's still genocide.'

'So it's (the video) showing violence to end violence.'

Man, this video wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be given the reactions.

Yeah, the violence was so atmospheric that it didn't really read as violence.

as in wrt violence or generally xp?

the video is alright, of course it's kinda stupid but nothing worth hyperventilating over....

I'll admit it's pretty shallow, but I'm a redhead, tho, so it hit a little closer to home. Made me want to stop this injustice that's being carried out in Los Angeles.

i kinda hate mia's music, and all the discussion around her music. i know this is a challop & largely uninteresting, but the noise around her stuff, the amusicality of much of it, the main appeal for so many ppl being lame one-track jacks of like 'sunshowers' and 'straight to hell' -- sorry yall, i dont care for this much at all.

real talk

nice to see deej say something sane and rational

cherish the moment

doesnt cad usually agree w/ me?? man that viking thread is really pissing ppl off

i remember being in this cafe around '05 & some song was playing -- i think it was like ltrimm or something -- & this dude comes up & asks the chick behind the counter if its MIA. shes like '...no...' not sure what an MIA is, and her boyfriend is there too, big dude in braids & rocawear, and this kid is self-consciously trying to explain to both of them why MIA is worthwhile & it was like such the epitome of this shit to me, not that ppl dont have legit reasons but he just struggled so disappointingly in trying to explain her appeal, like "but like ... the beats ... are really dope...uhhhh"

i don't usually disagree with you! just a mild zing re: viking thread

the video is alright, of course it's kinda stupid but nothing worth hyperventilating over...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way.

i wonder if MIA made this video before or after Erykah Badu's similarly effective controversy bait

but the noise around her stuff, the amusicality of much of it, the main appeal for so many ppl being lame one-track jacks of like 'sunshowers' and 'straight to hell' -- sorry yall, i dont care for this much at all.

mia is overrated, but i gotta find it a little ironic to hear hip-hop junkies complaining about hype, "amusicality" and the popularity of "lame one-track jacks"

ha otm

i don't even know what amusicality means really, but i can think of a lot of pretty great things that would register as amusical to some people. but m.i.a. isn't even one of them, you don't get hit singles from being amusical. "born free" is not great, it's just good, but people indicting her wholesale have issues i don't even know how to register. like, yes, she jacks TONS of shit, that's her thing, but if you don't get that HOW she jacks it and repurposes it is really the point -- and if you don't just basically dig her thing, i guess is what i'm saying -- then you're off in some other place that i don't know and can't relate to. i can understand thinking m.i.a. is not great, even though i think she is. i don't understand thinking she's not good.

i wonder if MIA made this video before or after Erykah Badu's similarly effective controversy bait

A video that complicated doesn't get set up in a day. I think it was planned several months ago.

Re MIA in general, I'm with deej. I don't like any of her music (I called her first record "Tom Tom Club with a tan" and I stand by that) and I think the hype and general lovefest atmosphere around her every half-assed, fumbling gesture is somewhere between annoying and infuriating.

"Tom Tom Club with a tan"

That's racist! Also Tom Tom Club are great.

As is M.I.A. I like her music.

see when you say half-assed fumbling gesture it makes me wonder

Normally I'm as rockist as they come, but she gets my vote for best person making music right now. That Tom Tom Club statement is retarded, in every sense of the word.

I would not want to live in a world that did not have "Genius of Love" in it

unperson's statement makes me think of:

marley - absurdly overrated uncle tom. eric clapton with boot polish.

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, May 21, 2004 1:25 AM Bookmark

I got no problem with Tom Tom Club. But they weren't granted the sociopolitical weight/gravitas MIA is. My point is that she's no more philosophically rigorous than they were, but critics think (or in any case claim) she is because brown skin = instant cred.

shes not tanned she was born that way shes from sri lanka

And I agree w/that opinion of Bob Marley, too, btw.

bob marley is a real person of african descent not a man who has put boot polish on his face

thinking he meant like eric clapton but with shinier boots

And I agree w/that opinion of Bob Marley, too, btw.

― Born In A Test Tube, Raised In A Cage (unperson), Sunday, May 2, 2010 6:44 PM Bookmark

So basically what you're saying is that you are a racial essentialist dickbag, which of course we might have suspected after the Curvy Colombian incident. Gotcha.

ha, now that I think of that post, this one:

brown skin = instant cred.

― Born In A Test Tube, Raised In A Cage (unperson), Sunday, May 2, 2010 6:44 PM Bookmark

is super-funny in light of it

unperson is right, rock critics really need to stop giving such preferential treatment to brown people

true dat

" you don't get hit singles from being amusical. "

no, you get hit singles by using the musicality of the clash & dr. buzzard's savannah band

and actually mlccl0 i think me being a rap fan makes this a more effective criticism -- puffy got a lot of shit for 'repurposing' but im pretty consistent w/ liking songs where something was added (i.e. 'mo money') and dissing shit where it wasnt ('ill be missing you'). MIA isnt adding anything remotely on the level of, like, what Ma$e brought to the table on 'feel so good,' its just generic screechy fauxmaican AMUSICAL hollering that is supposed to signify a bunch of trumped up political b.s. that, as loyal young liberals, we're supposed to feel solidarity with ('poor ppl of color, internationally'), without actually having to listen to the stuff that 'poor ppl of color' are listening to. this isnt an argument that you have to, like, be a huge 50 cent fan or some shit, but i think acknowledging that MIA's "hits" are 99% about the material shes jacking & 0% about her contributions and 1% about effective marketing, theres not really much else to say

i mean, everyone makes such a big god damn deal about her hit(s?) like shes some major-league pop artist right now. im not sure shes more popular than sean kingston to most rap fans who were feeling 'swagger like us'

obv shell have a much longer career than SK -- the kind of media coverage she gets basically has guaranteed her longevity -- i just remain wholly unimpressed by her music, and by the arguments ppl have made in favor of it

& yeah like al i totally thought of how it seemed like shes trying to one-up badu or something w/ a rather heavy-handed political statement

MIA's "hits" are 99% about the material shes jacking & 0% about her contributions and 1% about effective marketing

i felt this about jimmy from the last album, but nothing else.

very much looking forward to the new disc.

pull up the people, pull up the poor

deej c'mon there's the same amount of sampling in "paper planes" as there is in, like, every bad boy production from that era that had samples

i.e. "mo money, mo problems" samples the beat AND the hook of "i'm comin out"

and "sunshowers" does the same thing pretty much that "lemonade" does

MIA isnt adding anything remotely on the level of, like, what Ma$e brought to the table on 'feel so good,' its just generic screechy fauxmaican AMUSICAL hollering that is supposed to signify a bunch of trumped up political b.s. that, as loyal young liberals, we're supposed to feel solidarity with ('poor ppl of color, internationally'), without actually having to listen to the stuff that 'poor ppl of color' are listening to.

who are YOU claiming solidarity with, brother man?

MIA isnt adding anything remotely on the level of, like, what Ma$e brought to the table on 'feel so good,'

this is just wrong & a real double standard on deej's part

its just generic screechy fauxmaican AMUSICAL hollering that is supposed to signify a bunch of trumped up political b.s. that, as loyal young liberals, we're supposed to feel solidarity with ('poor ppl of color, internationally'), without actually having to listen to the stuff that 'poor ppl of color' are listening to.

this is obv strawmanning but i think there's likely a lot of truth to it as well

i.e. "mo money, mo problems" samples the beat AND the hook of "i'm comin out"

― J0rdan S., Sunday, May 2, 2010 9:43 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

and "sunshowers" does the same thing pretty much that "lemonade" does

― J0rdan S., Sunday, May 2, 2010 9:46 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

i address exactly this in my post. read again

maybe if MIA would get a biggie verse i would have no problem with it -- this is my point, MIA is not a worthwhile performer over any kind of beat

so you like "paper planes" then?

who are YOU claiming solidarity with, brother man?

― cool and remote like dancing girls (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, May 2, 2010 9:47 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

people who find 1-dimensional 'solidarity' to be corny?