Here's M.I.A. on Thursday's addition of Tavis Smiley talking about the "systematic genocide" of her people,the Tamil,that's going on in Sri Lanka.She is a very introspective person who makes music that has a social message,not to mention it's great to dance to.She is pregnant & her baby is due on the day of the Grammys.Too bad she's gotta miss it because she was nominated for both an Oscar & an Grammy for the controversial song,"Paper Planes"!Some folks claim that she's a terrorist but M.I.A. says she is not.There is so much speculation about the meaning of "Paper Planes" because of her background. Here's more on that from The Wall Street Journal:
"Hip-hop artist M.I.A. recently rocketed from the experimental underground to the pinnacle of the entertainment world. "O Saya," her collaboration with Indian composer A.R. Rahman from the "Slumdog Millionaire" soundtrack, is one of three nominees for the best-song Oscar. And her track "Paper Planes" is in contention at this year's Grammy Awards for record of the year -- the Recording Academy's top honor.
Born Mathangi Arulpragasam in Britain, the future singer returned with her family to her parents' native Sri Lanka when she was 6 months old. The family, who are members of Sri Lanka's ethnic-Tamil minority, moved to Jaffna, in the island nation's north. Not long afterward, the country erupted into civil war between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government, and violence consumed Jaffna.
As a child, Ms. Arulpragasam rarely saw her father, Arul Pragasam, who was involved in the Tamil-separatist movement -- though she says he was part of a more political faction than the violent and better-known Tigers.
At age 10 she fled with her mother, elder sister and younger brother first to India and then back to London, where her mother now works as a seamstress and M.I.A. attended art college.
Ms. Arulpragasam says her harrowing life has informed both the lyrics and sound of her songs. After her song "Paper Planes" was included last year in a trailer for the stoner comedy "Pineapple Express," it became M.I.A.'s first hit -- and an unlikely one at that. The song's signature element, gunshot sounds that are part of its rhythm bed, generated controversy. The song's refrain is the seemingly aggressive chant: "All I wanna do is" -- Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! -- "and take your money." But M.I.A. calls the song an ironic comment on the way Westerners perceive Third World immigrants.
Ms. Arulpragasam now lives in Los Angeles, where she is starting a family of her own under far gentler circumstances than the ones in which she was raised. She and fiancé Benjamin Brewer are expecting her first child as soon as this weekend."(END OF EXCERPT)Go here to read the rest of the article:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123327207710830899.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
I really dig this chick's approach to life & music.Here's the video for the song "Boyz".The dance moves are off the chain!
