b d v z: The Top 10 M.I.A. Tracks of All Time

Preface: I think M.I.A. is easily one of the best artists of the 21^st Century. Her brilliance lies in being a non-classifiable, genre defying artist that sticks out amongst the standard clones of the music industry. I don't believe there is another artist out there that is so confusingly or unsuccessfully labelled. We've been conditioned in this digital age to have easy consuming experiences, and this applies to music as it does to everything else. But instead of making the listening experience for the modern day music aficionado easier, M.I.A. challenges it and makes it something to be discussed. Name me one other artist that can or has been put into these categories: Electronic, Grime, Dancehall, Baile Funk, World, Club, Rap, Electro, Hip-Hop, Pop, Alternative, R&B, Avant-Garde, Synthpunk, Reggae. I'm sure there are more labels that I and anyone else can put out there do describe her music, and that's just my point. An artist who has been eclectically influenced and is a massive influencer to others, M.I.A. has kept her style and motifs strong in all of her records. Her mixtapes aren't included in this list but they are also awesome listening experiences in their own right. Recently, M.I.A. took on the identity of Vicki Leekx, the music world's parallel Julian Assange. Brilliant and untouched, there's a lot more where that came from. My interpretation of these tracks are simply my own and could be way off the money if you asked her yourself what these songs are about. But hey, they say art in the eyes of the beholder and I think that's what a lot of her songs and style are.
Enjoy the best of M.I.A.

10. XXXO (iTunes play count - 65)

I thought this song was average at first, because it seemed like all the effort M.I.A. had put into pushing the boundaries with Born Free were lost on a safe R&B style pop hit. I was wrong. XXXO is easily one of M.I.A.'s catchiest tunes and a fascinating depiction of detached technological love and hidden meaning. It is a little bit electronic, very melodic and the lyrics are deeper than they originally appear. iPhones, Twitter, uploading and Tarantino get a shout out in this radio friendly hit that is a lot more than you think. Part of me believes Maya is taking the piss with this song, as she sings “You want me be somebody who I'm really not” to both those who want her to stay away from the mainstream, as well as to those who want to make to be the next marketable female pop star. It is the song that represents the paradox of M.I.A. and how she feels when approached to be the face of some fashion label or soft drink brand. And hey, maybe part of her does want to do that. If this is how she responds to that decision making process, then all the more to her. The song I originally thought was average is now the second most played song on my iTunes.

Jimmy (iTunes play count - 63)

A semi-remake of an 80's Bollywood dance tune, the sounds in Jimmy are unlike any other M.I.A. song. This song cements its producer Switch as the best match for Ms. Arulpragasam when it comes to making an incredible beat. An outdated yet obviously awesome disco song goes thought the pair's vortexed minds and comes out as a psychedelic, cool and infectious tune. No one else would get away with singing Jimmy except M.I.A. For a disco influenced song, it does so well at not being cheesy or being intentionally so daggy it's cool. To add to this, it is easily the most danceable M.I.A. track that exists. The back story behind this song is what makes extra special, as M.I.A. sings about a real life date request she received to go travel though Dafur and Liberia. Now that's my kind of date.

Pull up the People (iTunes play count - 47)

Find a M.I.A. song that has a beat better than this and I'll give you $20 (no pun intended). This song off her first album Arular is a club floor filler and one of the best examples of M.I.A.'s signature lyrical style. It has a simple message and doesn't beat around the bush in stating that we need to “Pull up the People/Pull up the Poor”. The verses let us know a bit more about the emerging M.I.A. as she tells us, “I'm a fighter, A nice nice fighter/I'm a soldier on that road”. The bombs blow and the beats bang, and that's that M.I.A. thang that has stayed with her all of her career. This song just makes you want to go to an underground club somewhere, get 50 people on the dance floor, and see them drop when the beat hits. It also has one of the coolest endings of any M.I.A. track, as the bassline stops and an eery sound lingers as the chorus line is repeated until fade out.

Bucky Done Gone (iTunes play count - 44)

If it wasn't for this song, I don't know if M.I.A. would have made it as far as she did. Bucky Done Gone was the genre defying smash that was played in any club that was considered cool from London to New York, Paris to Sydney. It put her on the map to kids that were looking for something new to dance to around the world, and way before they even knew what the fuck she was on about. One part Baile Funk, one part Grime, one part Dancehall and one part Electro equals this mad song. To me the lyrics try to depict various aspects of street culture that are shared from place to place around the world. The favela horns of Brazil blend effortlessly with British street slang. What sounds like “We want Bucky Done Gone” is actually “What you want/Bucky Done Gone” to most lyric sites, but I prefer to sing it how it sounds, and to me it sounds like the universal cry of each of the world's repressed party people who don't want to do anything but dance. When M.I.A. sings “Get Crackin', Get Get Crackin!'”, I think of a whole riot of kids trying to get into a space so they can lose their shit. It's a carefree song with real edge and the undisputed track that exposed M.I.A. to the club scene years before the urban world woke up to her sound.

Galang (iTunes play count - 64)

I originally wrote about this song in my blog post about the songs that represent the cities they are made in. I chose Galang as a quintessentially Londoner track and don't shy away from that choice at all. Galang was written by M.I.A. about trying to make it in London. It is a bit grimey, kind of electronic, a bit hip-hopish, and also has a fusion of dancehall throughout it. She sings "London Calling, Speak the Slang" as the street culture obsessed listener is forced to amalgamate the spirit and resistance of The Clash to their own 21^st Century world. Sometimes I don't even know if M.I.A. is aware of how effortlessly she is able to bring two polarising genres of music together and unify the social aspects of their emergence and meaning. She has recently spoken of her wish that she could have grown up when the spirit of punk was emerging in London and around the world, as well as acknowledging how it was underground and urban music that she identified with when growing up. No one else is really able to link such experiences perfectly together, but she can. The chants of Galang at the rear of the song make it an euphoric and worldly experience, nudging it into the Classics section of any music collector that wants to be seen to have taste in only what matters.

XR2 (iTunes play count - 60)

This is my favourite M.I.A. song, but I understand it probably isn't her best. It was easily the most dropped M.I.A. song at festivals around the time Kala came out and appropriately gave people who were into that scene a taste of the raves of the 90s. XR2 took the now overused-to-death sound of favela horns and woke up every dance floor that was blest enough to have it pumped from its walls. M.I.A.'s lyrics are understated on purpose, giving an effect of coolness that is just too good. I just picture M.I.A. in the back seat of some old pimped out car, on the way to some rave on the outskirts of London with people that exemplify this idea of being too cool for your own good. What I love about this song more than anything is the lyrical connection with London raves during the 90s. Whilst M.I.A wishes she was around for the emergence of punk music, I wish I was a London raver in the 90s when the cops and the government were trying to shut down and kill the scene. Electronic music is probably the only movement since the 60s that has captivated people for so long and on such a global scale. Its heart probably peaked in the 90s when there was so much resistance and authoritarian aggression to stop acid house parties. M.I.A. still homages her connection to urban culture in her three letter initial tirade at the end of the song, referencing NYC, R&B, BIG, TLC and SWV. But it's the lyrics “Took a pill good time all the time” and “DJs, MCs Pirate raves/ Keep it secret, Light it mate” that brilliantly embody the goings on of real dance parties before they became fake.

Paper Planes (iTunes play count - 59)

This is the song that M.I.A. will be known for among mainstream audiences, partially because of its use in the film Slumdog Millionaire and on the advertisement for stoner flick Pineapple Express. But Paper Planes wouldn't have gotten there unless it was killer track - it is probably one of the best songs of the naughties. The riff comes from The Clash classic 'Straight to Hell' and it instantly gives the go ahead for a chorus of cheers when it chimes in at any party. Lyrically you can't fault it either, as Maya cleverly plays with stereotypes about oppressed immigrants to expose the ludicrous nature of seeing the world in black and white . The chorus “all I wanna do is *bang* *bang* *bang* and ah *ka-ching* and take your money” pokes fun at those who all too often stereotype immigrants as those who are taking our jobs and stealing our handbags and shooting their guns at us! It's funny to laugh at that hysteria, except if you are an immigrant who is affected by profiling everyday. I see it as a song for those who are pushed to the peripheries of society when all they're trying to do is survive in a big concrete jungle. It's an anthem, it's meaningful and it's perfect.

Born Free (iTunes play count - 49)

Easily the most underrated M.I.A. track that exists. Born Free is a heavy, angry, noisy electronic song that gives the big FUCK YOU to the critics. This is M.I.A. rejecting the path set out for her; not because she can, but because she has to. M.I.A. steps up her indie-cred again by sampling Ghost Rider by synth-punk band Suicide. This is the song that represents the anger and hostility of not being able to get through to those who shut you down or try to shut you up. It's so good because it's actually telling us to scream louder and piss em off more when the message isn't going through their heads. It's abrasive, radio unfriendly and a song your parents may ask you to turn down before asking "how is that music?!?".
The video and the song were easily the best of their kind in 2010, but sadly, most people really missed the boat. The video can be interpreted in many ways, and I guess it was just it got the response that it did because it further validates M.I.A.'s point. There is so much desensitisation to real violence, that genocide and war crimes don't raise an eyebrow anymore when presented to the tech savvy audience. Look deeper at the reaction of YouTube in pulling the video from its site, and you'll see that society has developed a hypocritical obsession with trying to protect kids from accessing meaning and information about real issues. I hear passion and truth when I listen to this song, and I will love it forever.

Bamboo Banga (iTunes play count – 73)

What can be said about this song that does it justice? If anyone asked me to introduce them to M.I.A.'s music, I would tell them to go listen to this song. The intro, the bassline, the car exhaust sound effects, the barking dogs, the Bollywood singers, and THE WORDS!...I'm getting shivers just thinking about it. This song is an experience from start to finish and is made all the more complete with echoes, repetitive chants and lyrical intonation that is fucking flawless. It is the simple lines like “Strike match/Light fire/Who's that girl called Maya/M.I.A. coming back with POWER POWER” that makes you wish you came up with something that sounds 4D. When the chorus hits, there's an eruption of corrupt sounds that somehow mesh together in the most immaculate manner. This song is an intense, addictive and blood-rushing experience that can't be ignored by anyone. If you don't like this song, you'll never get into M.I.A. and you don't deserve to. I'm sure when she first heard the finished product of this song she marvelled at the paradox of chaotic perfection. I almost cum my pants every time I hear it. It is just unlike any party song that has ever been created. On a Monday night when you're bored, close your eyes put this song on. Now watch the hummers, barking greyhounds, fluro zig zags, dancing American dudes, Bollywood dancers and pieces of bamboo float around M.I.A. shouting into a bullhorn. Bamboo Banga is creativity in its rawest form, from those who were born with it in their blood. Fuck Yeah.

$20 (iTunes play count - 52)

Such a hard decision to come up with the best M.I.A. track but I have to give it to $20. There is inexplicable element to this song that transcends both political message and personal exploration. I'll give it a go anyway. M.I.A. conveys purpose and identity effortlessly in most of her tracks, but this piece of art is about finding the balance of that creative journey. When we're trying to convey an important message, we need to justify why we're the ones saying it before making it brutally clear why we're there. The delivery of words in this song is M.I.A. at her most confident and sure, stating “Talking about y'all's such a bore/I'd rather talk about moi”. This song is about her ongoing message: it's an experiment. That experiment is to present unknown realities to two different worlds and to see what happens. More than legitimising her right to speak up for the oppressed, she is personalising her link between the haves and have nots and saying maybe you are the ones that have not, and they actually have. And what is the result? Mind bending. There isn't supposed to be an easy thing to grasp or do, to understand the harsh realities of the world outside of our comfort bubbles. For example M.I.A. emphatically lays it out on the table singing about AK47s, “$20 ain't shit to you/But that's how much they are”. Just like that, an unknown reality for one part of the world is thrust upon those from another part in terms they'll understand. But it still challenges us. $20 samples two classic tracks: The Pixies' Where is My Mind by way of the chorus and New Order's Blue Monday by way of the beat. Yes, what huge ask to pull off samples of that magnitude. But M.I.A. does more than justice to both. Maya even forebodes about her future obsession with the internet and references the industry's obsession with slutting up pop stars so they will sell records. What gets me the most is the melodic chant that plays throughout the background, as well as the sustained “YEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH” that lingers as your brain releases serotonin just before M.I.A. chimes in with “War, WAr, WAR”. The final verse of the song gives Maya her music and art's purpose. “I put people on a map/that never seen a map/I show them somethin' they've never seen/And hope they make it back...”. This song is more than music. It's even more than art. It's the ultimate message of identity and legitimising a purpose beyond self that we all need to and eventually will do in our lives.