MIA

i dont see how im doing that -- basically every time ive posted u have made assumptions about mine, i.e. that when i say the sample is doing the heavy lifting you infer that i mean the ONLY THING HAPPENING IN THE SONG IS THE SAMPLE & etc.

i dont think MIA is a very charismatic presence, nor does she have a well-defined or particularly multi-dimensional persona. what tipsy describes upthread is pretty much of the extent of it, right? I mean cant you describe almost every song of hers that way? i mean yeah this track is less sloganeering bcuz its more like a sorta hokey facsimile of rap music outlaw swag ('fly like paper' what?) blended w/ some internationalist guerrilla warfare steez and thrown on top of one of the most under-recognized but musically appealing clash samples. I probably agree that her approach on this song helped to not drag it down in the shout-y way galang is annoying to me, but that barely qualifies as doing something interesting afaiconcerned

& before miccio posts again yes i have a similar problem with rick ross

your original point was that she isn't doing anything that the clash sample doesn't do on its own, and that the song succeeds almost entirely on the strength of that sample. which isn't a ridiculous argument, even if i disagree, but it's not self-evident and you haven't really built a strong case for it. not that i can see. i mean, so what if her swagger is hokey? how does that invalidate what she's doing? it's pop. pop doesn't depend on authorial authenticity. and how would sloganeering defeat her "doing something" with the sample anyway, even if that was her angle?

plus where do we get off challenging her authenticity in the first place? seems to be one of the most common roads of attack against her, and i don't quite get it.

i think a lighthearted we know shes not REALLY robbing song is kinda ... in poor taste? corny?

― Gifted Unlimited Display Names Universal (deej)

tipsy and deej are both kinda right wrt "paper planes" i think - it comes off like m.i.a. wanted to tie the third-world-power tropes into more conventional (and recognisable) gangsta hustling ones. obviously she doesn't do this particularly well and she hasn't thought much about why they should be linked beyond a vague "poor people...from there...poor people...here as well" shallow insight, but that's m.i.a. for ya.

(i really like the song b/c what m.i.a. excels at are the rhythmic and lyrical-nonsense hooks that enable you to ignore the ham-fistedness of the "activism" - though actually i think she IS capable of conveying her politics in a satisfying way when she does character-driven narratives, which is why "10 dollar" and "hussel" are probably my two favourite m.i.a. tracks.)

and seriously i feel like shouting OFF TOPIC at everyone and posting some mia youtubes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Ylc5rSEhI

it comes off like m.i.a. wanted to tie the third-world-power tropes into more conventional (and recognisable) gangsta hustling ones. obviously she doesn't do this particularly well and she hasn't thought much about why they should be linked beyond a vague "poor people...from there...poor people...here as well" shallow insight, but that's m.i.a. for ya.

― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend)

i don't think that this is "obvious" at all. i was dismissing the song's political angle earlier because i was more concerned with its vibe. compared to the heavy bleakness of "straight to hell", it feels breezy and fun. although maya's singing about how she wants to "take your money", it comes across as more cheeky than threatening, and it's easy to identify with the gangster-chic posing, no matter who you are. you can play like you're with her taking someone else's money, and that inviting quality probably helps it as pop.

but that's a very superficial (i.e., pop) was of relating to the song, and it ignores/misconstrues its actual lyrical intent. not so long ago, i might have been inclined to agree that
"paper planes" is just a collection of catchy/provocative half-slogans, but tipsy makes a good case for its specificity, depth and intelligence. it's partly a "bunch of random hustling signifiers," but it's also addressed to the particular situation of people who aren't from around here: immigrants, migrants, the poor and paper-dependent. it's about wanting to be more free than you are, to fly like the paper (money, passports, etc) that defines your identity and allows you to travel, to be able to move and do with an impunity that others take for granted. like much of her material, it's also a generic statement of identity and strength in opposition, in criminal exile, and i don't see anything wrong with that.

rap is pop, and it's international. it's not the sole province of any single group or experience. so, yeah, you might say that she's forcing "third-world-power tropes into...gansta hustling ones," but you might also say that she's using the universal language of pop to talk about her specific situation. why assume that she's given no thought to why these things should be linked? why even passively suggest that they shouldn't be linked? might not the marginalization, oppression and criminalization of one group resonate with others in a roughly similar situation? and doesn't the glamor and power of american pop speak/appeal to the world at large?

shit, one interesting thing about the song is the way it inverts "straight to hell", lyrically. like MIA, the clash jacked outlaw signifiers right and left, but "straight to hell" is a white westerner's statement about the condition of those left behind by the callous application of western power, focusing on their abjection, betrayal and shame. in describing the condition of the exiled and despised cast-offs of american imperialism, it gives voice to a scalding contempt that's supposed to shock you into moral outrage - as a complicit westerner. it's a mean-spirited song no matter how you slice it, though, and i can't imagine anyone feeling good about its implications, no matter which side of song's fence they happened to be sitting on (english, american or vietnamese). "paper planes" inverts this, presenting a "despised outsider's" view from the inside, not ruined and ashamed, but joyous and rudely confrontational. which seems pretty clever to me.

When Paper Planes first came out, I thought of it as a decent song, but it really clicked in my mind as a hit when I heard it in the Pineapple Express trailer because then I realized "Aha, the perfect song for a film about stoners turned imaginary gangsters". It's the perfect combination because Paper Planes really isn't about M.I.A. being a hard ass, it is more of a hazy fantasia about "Thug Life".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OOHLWIAFSo

hit, one interesting thing about the song is the way it inverts "straight to hell", lyrically. like MIA, the clash jacked outlaw signifiers right and left, but "straight to hell" is a white westerner's statement about the condition of those left behind by the callous application of western power, focusing on their abjection, betrayal and shame. in describing the condition of the exiled and despised cast-offs of american imperialism, it gives voice to a scalding contempt that's supposed to shock you into moral outrage - as a complicit westerner. it's a mean-spirited song no matter how you slice it, though, and i can't imagine anyone feeling good about its implications, no matter which side of song's fence they happened to be sitting on (english, american or vietnamese). "paper planes" inverts this, presenting a "despised outsider's" view from the inside, not ruined and ashamed, but joyous and rudely confrontational. which seems pretty clever to me.

Excellent. This is how I interpreted it too.

deej, no one needs to explain why "paper planes" is good, just as you don'tneed to defend not liking "paper planes." But to call her out for being amusical and derivative just because you don't like what she adds to the clash sample is bullshit because she adds just as much to the hook (a beat, new sing-verses, a chorus) as most rappers and dancehall artist add to the hooks they bite. and you're still acting like "paper planes" is the only track she dropped, as if you admitting the "straight to hell" sample is the best part of that song explains why people raved about the album she made before it.

I realize I'm repeating myself to death here but hey it's ILM.

that should be "sing-song verses"

i like "paper planes" despite some clunky verses because it's catchy, fun, and it works good behind both the pineapple express trailer and a video of MIA working a falafel truck (which was especially cool to see on a big screen in times square). if you don't enjoy it, fine, but don't tell me she sucks BECAUSE she just dropped rhymes over a piece of a great song and stuck a beat on it! people have been making great music that way for decades.

haha looking over last night's rants i realize that my last few posts are even more redundant than i realized. sorry!

in the interest of finding something new to talk about, here's a video by MIA's man's band, the Exit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxT7wSC3520

here's one where he sings rather than just stares meaningfully at the camera

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=VUJp_jeKMy8

having reread the entire last week of this argument i think this is the most otm thing anyone posted:

tipsy and deej are both kinda right wrt "paper planes" i think - it comes off like m.i.a. wanted to tie the third-world-power tropes into more conventional (and recognisable) gangsta hustling ones. obviously she doesn't do this particularly well and she hasn't thought much about why they should be linked beyond a vague "poor people...from there...poor people...here as well" shallow insight, but that's m.i.a. for ya.

it is a fool's errand at best to try to figure out why "people" like paper planes (tho if i had a gun to my head i'd actually agree with adam bruneau--whenever i've heard this song in a club it seems like people grab onto the chorus and the sound efx in partic) but i have no idea what is "challenging" about saying that m.i.a. is a weak vocalist with a very limited persona whose voice and on-record presentation don't really bring much to the table.

paper planes is a catchy tune no doubt but i think her limitations as a performer and the issues with whatever she's trying to get across lyrically also make it a v. problematic one.

pull up the people is awesome

i have no idea what is "challenging" about saying that m.i.a. is a weak vocalist with a very limited persona whose voice and on-record presentation don't really bring much to the table.

― call all destroyer

and pull up the people is awesome

I don't understand why it is important for MIA to have a complex persona to be entertaining when it isn't a requirement for anyone else.

i dunno there are lost of 1-dimensional personas i find offputting dan ... this isnt a double standard. i.e. Drake/Rick Ross/etc etc (& i mean i like some rick ross songs but i certainly dont think hes deserving of like critical rap nerd hosannas either)

*lots

i think m.i.a.'s got a great voice, and more often than not it totally rescues her songs from their shallowness

'My BLAOW BLAOW don't want BLAOW you got CLICK, CHA-CHING!'

― kkvgz, Tuesday, May 11, 2010 3:27 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

maybe it's a sheryl crow reference???

― you better check that sausage before you put it in the rofl (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, May 11, 2010 3:48 PM Bookmark

Yeah, M.I.A. does have a great voice, I agree lex, but in this entire thread, I wish we could combine contenderizer's posts with tipsy mothra's, and then there would be pretty much no need to argue any more.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd120/hipsterrunoff/photographs/hro/1cd21324.jpg

ha

won't uploaders just call it Maya?

so obvious when u think about it

egg all over carles's face

that's not egg

this is the next search result after Y!Finance, lol

/y/ - Yaoi
y/ is 4chan's imageboard for posting yaoi hentai images.
boards.4chan.org/y/

should've named the album MA/Y/AOI

AOI: POLEMIX

Just wanted to jump in here to say that MIA is one annoying, self-important person. Thank you.

did she really say "i could afford to have you killed now" ?

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/05/mia.html

the bit about her father is iiiiinteresting

Unity holds no allure for Maya — she thrives on conflict, real or imagined. “I kind of want to be an outsider,” she said, eating a truffle-flavored French fry.

...is the money line, I think.

haha yeah i just picked that out too. the original piece is fantastically written.

Just heard XXXO for the first time. Ropey as fuck. Having heard three new songs now I'm not optimistic about the new album at all. Feels like MIA's been told she's an Important Artist so often she's lost sight of what made her good in the first place.

A song with even a half-decent beat would be nice for starters.

oh, comeback

http://twitter.com/_M_I_A_/status/14841407386

who?

MIKE JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWNS

MIKE JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWNS

new york times wrote an article saying mia was a bit of a ninny; mia responds by posting the journo's contact deets

that's the journalist's number and not her own?

call and find out!

yeah, what?

I just tried. It's a full mailbox under the journalist's name. That's a proper dick move.

really doe