M.I.A. Essentials

M.I.A. Essentials

Since her jittery 2003 single “Galang”, Maya Arulpragasam has used her neon blend of dance, electronic and hip-hop to fight the dystopian slide. You can hear the British Sri Lankan artist sounding the alarm in her electro-rap depictions of a looming technocracy (the synth-noir identity crisis in “Xxxo”) and post-colonial radicalism (the punk destruction in “Born Free”), translated through bursts of Bollywood disco, bhangra, dub and other globally fused styles. The struggle is real and M.I.A. needs your help, so give the Clash-sampling “Paper Planes” a place in your arsenal.

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