Goldsmith's two cents

MIA - Kala (2007)

When I first heard MIA shortly after the release of Arular, my initial reaction was something along the lines of "this is hipster trash." But as the album became increasingly ubiquitous I soon found myself getting her hooks stuck in my head. It wasn't until I discovered Piracy Funds Terrorism that I was 100% sold, but I've been a fan ever since. Her hip-hop roots are what drew me in, and with Kala, it is to her hip-hop roots that she has returned.

As good as the hip-hop driven tracks on this album are, I'm equally impressed with the others. Several of the songs are totally unlike anything we've seen from her in the past. Paper Planes, for example, is an indi rock sounding track with typical MIA playfulness. The chorus uses several gun and cash regiser sound effects in place of lyrics.

I can't say I fully grasp it, but there's a message/statement that definitely comes through in this album more than in her last. There are consumerist/capitalist/political references throughout the entire album, and despite her irreverent style there's clearly something there. The track Hussel features an artist by the name Afrikan Boy, and he raps about how he sells sugar on the motorway, how his mother told him to be an accountant, and how he doesn't pay taxes. Maya opens $20 by saying, "...like do you know the cost of AKs up in Africa? $20 don't mean shit to you, but that's how much they are." (It's an awesome track sampling Where Is My Mind by the Pixies.) And even beyond these overt references, the whole album feels far more self confident than Arular, and at times sounds almost confrontational, which to me feels like something of a statement in and of itself. Kala is a playful and rebellious celebration of our globalized culture by and for our malcontent generation.

I can safely say that I like Kala better than Arular, but perhaps not for any of the reasons listed above. At the risk of sounding overly sentimental and/or delusional, this album has for the first time made me feel like a member of a global culture/community created by, and belonging to, my generation. I don't necessarily think it's revolutionary, but I do think it's a (or at least my) first glimpse of the potentially positive cultural side effects of globalization.

One could argue that this was achieved years ago when The Beatles were globally played and universally embraced, but I think this different. Along side Maya on this album (as a Sri Lankan Tamil herself a member of one of the most marginalized and impoverished groups of people on Earth) are Aboriginal children, Africans, Americans, etc., and they have together produced a pop record which will likely prove to be appealing to a generation of people all over the world. It's a record that wouldn't have been possible a generation ago. It both represents and appeals to the first truly global generation.

Taken as an argument there are a million ways to poke holes in this line of thinking, but I get a really unique feeling when I listen to this album. Like, maybe there is still hope for a world community that isn't totally exploitive and trigger happy, and maybe our generation will start humanity down the right path. I'm sure Janet, Nancy and Scott all said the same thing, but the world is different now. For starters, Janet didn't have a copy of Magical Mystery Tour a month before it was released, now did she?

"I put people on the map that'd never seen a map."