MIA’s "Vicki Leekx" and the nature of medium, technology, censure & disappointment

Upon the release of MIA’s latest mix Vicki Leekx, I advocate that it’s time for MIA to stop talking. The “bad bitch who came from Sri Lanka” (tip of the hat to Nicki Minaj) has had a troublesome transition from being an agitated indy pop princess to being a mainstream pop diva. Her raucous brand of rabble rousing politics have proven to have nearly disastrous effects on a public relations front, as from calling out Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber to advocating for political freedoms while eating french fries dipped in truffle oil, she has become an inauthentic advocate for everything from artistic freedom to civil rights. Her third, and most mainstream release MAYA suffered from this, as, when she crossed over to the public at large as a  faceless voice on  film advertisements for pot comedy Pineapple Express, or sampled deftly as a preaching point on the swagger of Lil Wayne, T.I. and Kanye West, she was a winner. She was foreign, strange and pop friendly, a 21st century Kajagoogoo or Question Mark and the Mysterians, three minute cut out bin memories of mindless youthful glee. Unlike MIA, we heard from both of those acts only once in the American public, and they both faded away. MIA, still very much here, and doing a disservice to herself, art and music at large, and needs quite simply to shut up.

DOWNLOAD THE OFFENDING “VICKI LEEKX” AND JUDGE FOR YOURSELF

This is not to say that silence is a golden negative. Maya Arulpragasm is a wonderful artist. At the beginning of her rise, she was an aspiring clothing designer, graphic artist, filmmaker and last but not least, singer. It was her ability to wield music as a weapon of artistic design that attracted me to her. In aligning with producers like Blaqstarr and Diplo, she was able to use their colorful production styles to paint vivid images of lifestyle and politics. Her early output was the kind of art that inspired a generation of open minded free thinking youths to accept modes of intellectual freedom they felt were not there. However, somewhere along the way, it feels as though the messenger has become encased by her medium, and in doing so, has outmoded herself.

Cyberterroristic electronic dance music is something that absolutely never EVER needed to happen. It’s not because of sonic style, as MIA is always surrounded by the finest progressive pop minds in underground music. It’s because of access. Large portions of MIA’s latest creative output deal with the nature of government control of social media. From Facebook to Wikileaks, she advocates an uprising against the system. The only problem is that it’s no longer 2007 where “Paper Planes” was an artist having a relevant take on a fresh issue. In 2011, we’re at a point where between Twitter, Youtube and Facebook alone, the entire universe is able to comment, repost, @ reply and like a statement or newsworthy occurrence within seconds of it happening, thereby going from intellectualizing and contextualizing a response to crafting important knee jerk responses. The vocal quotient of Wiki Leekx is null. From a production standpoint, it’s quite excellent. From the inclusion of the work of Baltimore local DJ Pierre, to a Nicki Minaj shoutout and new Blaqstarr tracks, it’s dance ready. But if you listen to the words, it’s a classic case of sound and fury unfortunately signifying nothing.

Patti Smith. MIA’s creative doppelganger.

In final, I equate MIA most often to Patti Smith. In both being progressive, creative, of a punk mindset and undoubtedly talented, MIA may want to consider the following:

Between 1967-1977, Patti Smith released volumes of incredible punk rock artistry as a woman who used music as an outlet of her poetic excellence. After an unfortunate accident in 1977, she took time away from music to reassess her life, and from 1979-1996, she released virtually no music, and instead enjoyed marriage, painting, travel and writing poetry. Her output during this period is just as emotive and noteworthy, but in not being musical allowed her incredibly creative senses to sharpen.

Between 2000-2009 Maya Arulpragasam released volumes of incredible progressive dance artistry as a woman who used music as an outlet to illustrate her socio-political view of humanity. After outing herself to the mainstream as well, an avant garde artist instead of a pop diva, she needs to take time away from music to allow Rye Rye, Blaqstarr and the Sleigh Bells, acts far better equipped to be mainstream pop icons to advance her cause on NEET Recordings, her Interscope distributed label. Enjoying marriage, motherhood, clothing design, graphic design and film making as creative outlets for her politics could prove just as emotive and noteworthy as music.

In summation, MAYA and Vicki Leekx are a lyrical void, and proof that MIA needs to cease recording music for the time being. As an artist of importance to this generation, her recent musical output is a vast disappointment, and immediate censure of that creative outlet is an absolute necessity.

This is what happens when hipsters get taken seriously. A rant on the story of MIA.

All of our heroes are disposable. It’s a new adage for a new generation.
Money is the root of all evil. An old adage that is timeless.

Required reading:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/magazine/30mia-t.html
http://www.nylonmag.com/?section=article&parid=4668
http://www.tgrionline.com/2010/04/drop-mia-and-lady-gaga-wheres-beef.html

My desire to review M.I.A.’s forthcoming album ceases to exist. No, it has nothing to do with the album’s content. “XXXO” and “Born Free” are fantastic singles. They show M.I.A. to be well along her deemed path of wanting to be a Madonna clone. My beef isn’t there. Rather, it’s with the marketing of her third release, a marketing campaign that proves two other old time adages true: the emperor is not wearing clothes and that there’s a sucker born every minute.

There are people in this universe who apparently still consider M.I.A. a “revolutionary.” There are people who still find her to be on the “cutting edge.” These are the same people who are enamored of and easily distracted by bright, shiny things, or, even worse, if they were canines would be constantly mystified by the fact that they could indeed chase their own tails. M.I.A. has been off of that route for quite some time, and if in reading her recent New York Times interview you were appalled or feeling shocked and filled with angst, then it’s really time for some intense self reflection. M.I.A. is a pop star. Yes, she’s brown and from a foreign country, dresses in an unusual manner, and is produced by artists and DJs who occupy deified spots on the underground. Yes, for an entire generation of teens to twenty somethings whose socially awkward behavior became a cultural revolution, she was the first artist to significantly crash into the mainstream. But that doesn’t make her any less of a pop star. And the last time I checked, if you want to be an outsider, if you perceive your art as an anarchic threat on the mainstream, then dancing pregnant onstage in the top spot on the Grammys in a polka dot onesie with Lil Wayne, T.I. and Jay-Z makes you none of that. It makes you JUST another pop star.

If M.I.A. would only see herself as on the EXACT same level as Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga or Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears, I’d have no problem with her. In fact, I’d probably love her more. They all want to be like Madonna too, and have all been accused of not having a truly musical bone in their body. Even better, the more controversial ones even talk trash about each other, too, and do bizarre things that conflate their messages. M.I.A. mentions how much she hates Gaga, but at the same time I’m QUITE sure would want four consecutive number one hit singles, and in so broadly making hits from sampling club music, disco, punk and new wave bands, is committing the same crimes against originality that she claims Gaga is, but just in a far more underground and “cooler” way.

Further, in trying to push buttons and evoke reaction, Madonna definitely did it better than anyone, and in even attempting to do the same, you’re certain to fail:

http://embed.break.com/NzIzNjY3
Madonna Like a Prayer – Watch more Funny Videos

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11219730&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

I also enjoy the fact that she claims to have hung out with Tupac. If proven untrue, it’s on the same level of music nerd blaspheming and “serious artist” career ethering as Charles Hamilton claiming to have album beats done by J Dilla. Tupac, in both telling Biggie in “Hit ‘Em Up” that “I fucked your wife, you fat motherfucker,” and also being the man behind “Dear Mama” and “Brenda’s Got a Baby” set the precedent that M.I.A. is attempting rather pitifully to follow. In being both sensitive to the politics of her native Sri Lanka as well as having a “buckle up, knuckle up” attitude towards anybody willing to really pay attention and follow the path of absurdity, she’s walking a line that requires either beating someone down with a champagne bottle or being shot in a hail of gunfire to prove legitimacy or martyrdom. Posting diss tracks to New York Times reporters and putting their phone numbers on blast on Twitter really isn’t the same thing, so, we’re stuck with a with a dope small time artist trying to make a big time impression.

If M.I.A. weren’t M.I.A. I’d love her. Her paranoia is entertaining. Her fashion sense and stylistic impulses entertain me too. The fact that she’ll soon be married to a Bronfman who is seemingly as much of a rich kid putting on airs as a willfully bottom feeding hipster dumpster diver as his potential wife to be is entertaining as well. If this was the woman making “Born Free,” I’d be really intrigued, as it probably wouldn’t be so ridiculously and borderline unnecessarily graphic. But this isn’t who M.I.A. apparently is. Now that big labels and big business have entered the picture, it’s amazing to see how from what appeared to be a throne of power over the ears of the young emerges yet another smart, pretty, confused and privileged hipster girl.

Things have fallen apart. The center will not hold. Money is the root of all evil. All of our heroes are disposable.

Dear M.I.A: Knock it off.

Less than a decade on the scene, and two months before her eagerly awaited third album, M.I.A. is in a class alone. Maya Arulpragasam is a singular artistic force, pushing against musical boundaries and political sensitivities with equal aplomb. She is followed by a public that yearns to extract meaning from her every note, word, or Tweet.

So why the fuck is she attacking Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber?

Now, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a plea to leave Gaga and Bieber alone. As much as I enjoy the music that the two put out, it’s just pop. Neither is re-inventing the wheel; they’re following in the footsteps of pop stars before them. And that’s okay! Pop music can be iconic, especially with charismatic, interesting stars like these two. But it isn’t high art. Lyrically, Bieber uses the word “baby” 9 times in the chorus of his number one hit. Gaga sings about disco sticks and fame monsters. Musically, they put out well-crafted, hook-filled R&B and dance music, respectively. Nothing groundbreaking.

M.I.A. is different. Her music is a true melting pot of influences and genres, her lyrics bombastic poetry. She is definitely not a pop star, but has had no trouble getting press, be it critical fawning or political commentary. Her personal connection to and pointed views on the Sri Lankan Civil War, discussed with greater depth elsewhere, are a defining part of her public image. Her dedication to Third World issues and subjugated peoples worldwide is admirable; she definitely isn’t some Bono-come-lately. Her politics are personal; she has as much at stake as the political musicians of the 60s and 70s. So what happened?

A turning point here is the infamous video for “Born Free,” a bit of cinematic ultraviolence that depicts genocide in very graphic terms. With classic shock rock tactics, M.I.A. made a video “so violent” and “so controversial” that it was banned from YouTube… promptly buying her another few news cycles, all about a clip that is not particularly novel or creative. The video for “Born Free” manages to combine the worst parts of collegiate political discussion and overwrought film school productions. It’d be less smug if Michael Moore directed it.

M.I.A.’s release of the “Born Free” video is part is of the same cynical media strategy that includes running to NME every month to shit on pop stars. It’s not as if her album would have gone unnoticed, lost in Trending Topics to Justin Bieber’s haircut. It’s below her, and we should expect more from someone like M.I.A. She’s too important to music, culture, and art in 2010 to punch down like this.

Unforgettable, Vol. 13: M.I.A. – Arular

Where we left off with the sonic schizophrenia of Kenna’s face, we now delve into M.I.A.’s socially schizophonic scape. Maya Arulpragasam came onto the scene in 2005 with her debut, Arular. M.I.A. mirrors the past – leading by sample – and marks the future. From sound to sentiment to style she lays the groundwork for the new underground of which she spoke in NME

In people’s hard drives and their brains, it just hasn’t been outputted yet. We need a digital moshpit like we’ve never seen, harder than how people were doing it in the punk era. We need that energy, but digitally. It’s coming.

On the brink of her third album, and a superficial rebirth, it’s important to see that we still have the same M.I.A. – with the same perspective – in a different package.

Arular came out when I was a freshman in college, and – in conjunction with the urban landscape of Manhattan as my backdrop – was instrumental in my musical maturation. Just as New York is a microcosm of the world, so Arular was a concentrated synthesis of sounds and global societies. Just as I was cementing my identity as a world citizen, so M.I.A. was constructing our cultural identity.

M.I.A.’s eponymous track – “Untitled” – marks her signature as much as ours: a general in the midst – and at the helm – of a lost generation. More so than most, Arulpragasam embodies this era: missing in action – we may not know where we are or what we’re doing, but we’re doing it big. Arular is that electronic indigenous sound of an era on the cusp of tradition and innovation. As M.I.A lays down her blueprint electronic to lead a tribe in the midst of unparalleled transition, so Arular reflects that ambiguity in being born free.

“They’re coming through the window, they’re coming through the door. They’re busting down the big wall, and sounding the horn… I’ll hard drive your bit, I’m battered by your sumo grip. Lucky I like feeling shit, my stamina can take it. Gymnastics super fit, muscle in the gun clip. Bite teeth, nose bleed, tied up in a scarf piece.” If “Born Free” was a documentary, “Bucky Done Gun” would be the script. The tone, the accent, the vernacular, and language behind the lyrics is so ambiguous, though. Just like gingers in the middle of a Middle-Eastern-looking city are the clashing of two seemingly opposite cultures, it is that very same contradictory collision that builds M.I.A.’s appeal. It’s universal and all-inclusive, because it is so panoramic. It’s so global, it’s generic; it’s so diverse, it’s diluted – and that’s Pop. “Bucky Done Gun” has that catchy beat that makes the teens bop, but the hard bars that hold the block. Beneath the “so much of everything” sound though, at the core, is the technological connection with the tribe.

http://www.youtube.com/v/VNJ96imMskk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1

“Bingo” pings the sonic nexus of the information age. Here M.I.A. boasts an understated Sri Lankan slur swagger over beats that lie at the bullseye of the signature indigenous electronic sound. There’s engines revving under laser guns. There’s sirens alongside beaming bombs. M.I.A.’s vocal chants echo with robotic ramblings like banter from an episode of the Jamaican Jetsons. The whole vibe is industrial Caribbean, right down to the synthesized steel drums. Integration is everywhere, from the soundscape to the social scope.

On the classic standout “10 Dollar“, M.I.A. dons the Brooklyn B-boy beat below her trademark ferocious foreign flow. This track is the epitome of Arulpragasm’s vision of the Universal Sound Board – USB is the new Visa in this age of technology – worldwide currency: everywhere you want to be. Here we have a bi-tri-panlingual bombast over larger-than-life low-fi. M.I.A. brings the automaton-meets-aborigine atmosphere. She literally gives power to the people by bombarding the airwaves with analogue layers, and bringing that basic bombast from the ground up. 10 dollars is nothing to the U.S., but the USD is golden in the developing world… so what can you get for a Hamilton? Anyting and everyting you want. This song slips the social scope into the catchy riffs, and brings the third-world vantage to the western world. In the midst of a George W. Bush America, and uniform “Top 40” structure, M.I.A. brought that third-world sound. In a time where Pop and Politics are juxtaposed and seen as opposites, M.I.A. highlights the parallels between seeming polarities.

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZrGzdJEEAJs&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1

When she reigns, it pours. “Sunshowers” is a track that underscores the Arular vision of sweet deception. There’s light claps sprinkled along the surface like raindrops before the deluging looped bass descends, as the sound literally drains – resonating the juxtaposition within the track’s title. The lyrics are simple with M.I.A.’s devil-may-care intonation harmonizing with an airy secondary songstress. The echoing vocalist in tandem is a constant throughout Arular – a silver lining to the sunshower’s overcast – and beneath the solar downpour is a lone guerrilla soldier making their way out of the jungle.

“Amazon” is the Omega to “M.I.A.‘s” Alpha – lyrically, sonically, thematically – it completes the iconography. This is the game and this is the globe – the icon and the individuals within her generation held hostage. “I was missin’ in action, on the side of a carton. I was taken in a Datsun, from a street in Acton… I was sipping on a Rubicon, thinking ’bout where I come. It’s all this for revolution, cuttin’ up the coupon. Saving for a telephone, can I call home. Please can I go home.” There’s schizo synth echoes beneath M.I.A.’s repeating dialog, amplifying self-inquiry: “Hello, this is M.I.A. can you please come and get me?”

http://www.youtube.com/v/e6F2EYxSeKc&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1

Deep in the Amazon she’s lost but, then again, who isn’t? Man was born free, but everywhere is in chains; Arulpragasm was born free, then shackled to the game with boys in chains and paper planes, only to break free again. Before Kala‘s corner swag put M.I.A. on the mainstream map, she was nestled in the jungle with: “Painted nails, sunsets on horizons. Palm trees silhouette smells amazing. Blindfolds under home made lanterns. Somewhere in the Amazon.” Then with the Pineapple Express came the hits, the fame, the beautiful life behind sixteen bars, and the icy chains: “They’re holding me Ransom. Smoking on a Benson, tryin’ to get me undone. Let me go, I don’t want your attention. Under submission, out of frustration I’ll do it – I’ll scream for the nation.” Her tone is still so calm, as she cries loudest in the cut.

Above all else it is that fire, that innate infidel spirit that sets M.I.A. apart – sonic aesthetic and artistic identity. She finds comfort in conflict, and creates through chaos; she finds herself in the confusion, and finds resolve in revolution. Whether she’s an Amazonian bamboo banga, coming around with the boyz, or a punk born free, she’s that same Sri Lankan miss singing in action – same vantage, same voice, different veneer. M.I.A. is that same guerrilla general leading the generation out of the jungle.

“Minutes turned to hours, and became our dates. When we shared raindrops, that turned into lakes. Bodies started merging, and the lines got grey. Now I’m looking at him thinking, maybe he’s okay.” As she closes with “Hello this is M.I.A; it’s okay, you forgot me,” it’s the uncertain arrogance in ambiguity, that lost sense of time or place that comes from being in the dense depths for so long, that resonates loudest. As the close is simply stated over the underground UFO beat, with the prominent sounds of a skeleton-esque xylophone beneath, the end is what puts the new beginning in motion. This is the future, from oblivion she builds the future sound from her own past skeletons, and a future culture from forgotten corpses.

It’s raw, it’s real, it’s quite a modern masterpiece. However – fast-forwarding – it isn’t a far cry from where she is now. In light of the “Born Free” video it’s important to look back and see what made M.I.A. Granted she has a punk sound now, it’s not completely divergent from her original style. Arular was bright – sonically and visually kaleidoscopic – like Keith Haring on Crack. This new sound is still the same M.I.A. – same point-of-view, different package. That said, it’s nice to look back and see how she’s growing as an artist, but holding fast to her sonic aesthetic without compromising her core vision or voice. M.I.A. can’t change; she’s like a Chameleon: always a lizard. Hello, M.I.A.? Arular? Unforgettable.