M.I.A. recently announced that her upcoming release AIM will be her last album. Does she mean last full-length? Will she produce? Will she drop mixtapes with Diplo again? WHAT DOES THIS ALL REALLY MEAN?
The first time I heard of M.I.A. was in 2004 when I grabbed from a mixtape at a local record store in Atlanta – your average cellophane-wrapped blank disc. I always made a habit of grabbing those from countertops anywhere I could. A year later, she released her 1st album Arular when I was in art school and I definitely felt “cool” knowing about her a year prior!
For some reason I do not think she’s done releasing music – but on the other hand I think I’m okay with it. I’d rather her stop now while she has a really strong discography that I still enjoy.
Although I have every single album she’s released, honestly I haven’t been crazy about any of the tracks she’s previewed so far but I’ll definitely give it a listen. You can stream it here or buy it on iTunes here !
If it is the end of an era for Mathangi Arulpragasam, I am glad to have been able to catch her live, amidst all of her Visa issues with performing in the States. It was Halloween and she let everyone on stage! She even crowd-surfed RIGHT ONTO ME. This was pre-camera phone era, but I definitely have 2 photos taken on my single use camera!
With that being said, I’ll leave you with possibly my favorite M.I.A. song “20 Dollar” from her album Kala. She managed to tell it like it is alongside elements of The Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?”
I think Kala might be my favorite album of hers now that I think about it – what do you think?