Is M.I.A A terrorist?

[bored21]

Something interesting I just read. hmmm interesting.

http://jacquesmorel.blogspot.com/2008/08/stumbled-on-mia-terrorist.html

i guess she is gangster as hell

[lupinIII]

Her dad was apparently the head of one of the earlier radical marxist Tamil factions in Sri Lanka which eventually merged with other groups to form the L.T.T.E., his nom de guerre Arular was M.I.A's first album name. What DeLon isn't representing is the history of repression of Tamil people as an ethnic group by the Buddhist Sinhala majority of Sri Lanka has been. I don't condone either side's tactics in this civil war but this sort of polarisation where people spout 'Sri Lanka is for peace' is bollocks because the history of violence, towards the Tamils has always been born of grassroots political movements which gain popularity in the upper echelons of the political system. All in all the whole situation makes me ashamed to be a Sri Lankan.

That said she's kinda a modern day Che Guevara, wherein her radicalist agenda which promotes violence is masked by her badass music-making, similar to the idealised Marxist ideology of Guevara covering up his harsh guerilla tactics and authoritarianism.

[Galadriel]

I dunno know much about the details of this particular conflict, but it is my understanding that the tamils have really been treated like shit for quite a while... my view on this kind of thing is this: if you treat a group of people like animals for long enough, eventually a handful will call you on it and act that way (i.e. suicide bombings, etc.), so don't treat them that way in the first place. I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that eventually it will happen. And in this situation, the tamils don't want to be part of Sri Lanka, the ethnic majority obviously hates the tamils, so why not go separate ways?

Oh yeah, I think M.I.A. is bad-ass.

And I thought Paper Planes was just about how some Americans view immigrants (especially in NY), not necessarily related to the Sri Lanka conflict at all... so kind of a dumb choice for DeLon to do a parody of calling her a terrorist and all that, it seems to me...

[lupinIII]

Yeah, you pretty much got it Galadriel, the Tamil were on the island since pre-colonial days, when Europeans started arriving they figured the best way to take island would be to divide and conquer, so they started supporting the Tamil population in subjugating the Sinhala, when colonialism in Sri Lanka ended the Sinhala majority realised that without the backing of the Europoeans the Tamil were a minor social group, they started institutionally repressing the Tamil through political exclusion, including making Sinhala the official state language and making Buddhism the state religion, thus setting up discrimination against the Tamil population that continues to the day.

[lupinIII]

One thing though, why has it taken so long to get M.I.A. to America? She released Arular around like 2005 and Kala early last year, have your radio stations just not picked up on her sound?

[bored21]

i dont think she was alowed here or something

[tenduckmountain]

she can terrorize me anytime she wants <3

[bored21]

lmao

[bored21]

bumps

[bored21]

bump again...i am just interested as to what people think about this

[Buddy Wood]

I've had M.I.A. on my Ipod for a while now and that Paper Planes song has been one of my favs for well over a year - maybe 2.

Funny that it's taken that movie Pineapple Express using it in the trailer for it to really blow up - at least in America.

As far as her political background and ties - I had no idea. It's just good music. I never even knew what she looked like. The Beastie Boys are in the video.

And I'm a huge fan of The Clash. Paper Planes is really just a sample of Straight To Hell by The Clash with some good beats and rhymes...

[lupinIII]

Ho-ly. Je-sus. I haven't heard Straight to Hell in years! I totally didn't make the connection! Good spotting! It's totally the gunshots that make that song, they're such a powerful visceral sound for so much of the world.

What's Pineapple Express

edit: Never mind, that movie actually looks pretty awesome, I love stoner flicks. I wonder is this is as awesome as the first Harold and Kumar.

[bored21]

apparently the movie is one giant high conversaton

[BlackMath]

One thing though, why has it taken so long to get M.I.A. to America? She released Arular around like 2005 and Kala early last year, have your radio stations just not picked up on her sound?

Well she was barred from touring because she was on a terror watch list. And so already she isn't going to get much airplay.

Also, her first album was so confrontationally different (loved it myself though), so it could be a tough sell.

And I might be wrong, but I hear that most American stations suck balls.

[lupinIII]

I guess in terms of independent hip-hop coverage in the U.S. the majority of it is geared towards the American style and some of the good overseas stuff just can't compete with the over saturated market.

Personally I liked Arular better than Kala, I just thought it was more consistent and complete. For me Kala just kinda slumped in the middle.

[Tomfurbs]

No. M.I.A is not a terrorist.







(jesus fucking christ almighty sitting in a tree enjoying a sody pap) :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

[lupinIII]

What's a sody pap?

It sounds like some candy based cervical cancer screening test.

On topic though, I'm somewhat amused that it took so long for someone to answer the original question.

[MrShow52]

mia really sucks if you like her music you have bad taste, end of story lock thread

[Tomfurbs]

What's a sody pap?

It sounds like some candy based cervical cancer screening test.


Lupin3 gets a hole in one.

[bored21]

lmao at sody pap

[bored21]

bumpss

[Irisheyes]

she was supposed to do an album with timbaland but she couldnt get into the states... so she traveled through asia and Oz instead and made one of the finest albums released in 2007. which was a good thing if u ask me seing as timbaland seems to have his beats on 90% of the music i hear on the radio these days.

couldnt give a fuck if she's a terrorist. she's lovely :)

[bored21]

true but timbaland makes nice beats

[lupinIII]

The last song on Kala (Come Around) is a Timba produced song, it's got a really badass groove to it. I personally find Timbaland's stuff runs very hot and cold so I'm glad he brought out the good stuff for Maya.

During an Australian radio interview Maya made the claim that the song he did for her was inspired by the Wilcannia Mob collaboration (Mango Pickle Down River) which is pretty big props to the Aussie hip hop scene.