M.I.A., but not for much longer - June tour

Love MIA

i saw one of her vids on 120 minutes, she kept saying "mango", needless to say i wasn't impressed.

I like MIA.

galangalalalalalanglang!

Chavpop?
Don't be silly.
That comment totally reaks of "get me a white person with a guitar right away!".
I'm not a massive fan but at least this more interesting than a lot of the stale indie-by-numbers stuff out there.
What is your fascination with "chavs"?

Since when has Maya claimed to be 'urban'? Blame the record companies and media for having to slot everything into some kind of hole. I can't see how you can make any claim to MIA's music being 'chavpop', unless you know a whole sector of chavdom previously undiscovered that's pledged eternal support to the Tamil Tigers...

Have a read of this, Alien person...

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/interviews/story.jsp?story=567566

"You might like to have a read of domgourlays borderline racist comments to this"

Ha Ha Ha!!!
I have to laugh because if I didn't I'd just squirm in pity. I was wondering how long it would take for some numbskull to say that lambasting white burberry wearing dickheads speaking with fake Jamaican accents is racist, so thanks Homesick Alien, you've just won the golden cabbage award.

Oh, and for the record, here is the Oxford Dictionary definition of the word RACIST:- "a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others"

If anyone can actually link this definition to any comments within this thread, then I suggest its time you went back to school and resat your English GCSE, as you obviously have no grasp of the English language or any of its connotations.

Fair enough. So why is MIA chavpop Dom?

As I said in my previous post Furry. Her single ('Sunshowers') is completely indistinguishable from all of the other chavpop around at the minute (see list of suspects in said post). Maybe that was a one off? I don't know but it doesn't exactly make me want to rush out and hear a live set or buy the next release.

chavpop?

please die.

genre-stereotypes aside, isn't this just shit music?

I listened to Arular a couple of times and I liked it. I don't see who she's "chavpop" at all. I would reserve that phrase for JoJo and that Babycakes song.

i think Derby is britain's capitol for scrawny white chavs who think they're black.

Mansfield is bad too.

The whole album is as good as Galang, IMO.

""da blak manz speak" made me cringe, it's the type of ingnorance bred rubbish your embarassingly racist grandparent would come out with."

Maybe you don't experience these type of cretins then in poshsuburbialand, but wait folks, it gets better...

"made stupid statements like "wannabe council estate trash" without actually knowing anything"

You haven't answered my initial question. Are you saying that these artists have lied about their stage school backgrounds then. If you are not going to bother answering the question then don't bother posting.

"Although, it's hardly suprising judging by your totally boring and safe taste in music, and your writing, which is nothing more than narrow-minded, cliched ramblings, wanking over boring shmindie bands."

Ho hum. Big deal.

"Fuck off, you patronising cunt."

And that sums you up Homesick Alien. A rounded argument so elequently put. Not.

funny how so many of you all are angry that there are three "urban" acts out there doing (vaguely) similar things, but are fine with 38 bands a week buying the "rough trade: post punk collection vol 1" record and rereleasing it in a shitter form a month later

still, there always room for more singer songwriter ballads, verse chorus verse chorus by numbers indie and U2 records.....

My review of the Oasis show was just that Furry - a review of a show.

So you can review an Oasis show as Just A Show and not bring into question:

1) the people that like said music
2) the people that make said music

But are unable to do the same for this track without going off on spiels about Council Estate kiddies and "chavpop"?

I love you gunners :)

Hush, stop speaking logic and sense, Dom will get angry with you and accuse you of making him out to be a member of the KKK.

That's because some people here are happiest with limp white boy guitar shit. Damn these chavs, bring on the Ordinary Boys!

"Well done Furry, its taken you nearly half a day to respond."

Errm, you just took almost exactly the same amount of to respond to him, so what is your point exactly?

"I take great exception to crap like MIA, the Streets et al, because a) they are creating a completely false scenario that is sending out the wrong message"

Why the hell are you still insisting on MIA having some kind of "working class", sorry, I mean "chav" pretence when clearly, judging by her background, and music, she does not. Are you even able to criticise the actual music without using the word "chav"?

Yeah I did, thanks.
And a fascinating read it was too.*
So...........?

























*this is a lie.

Well, since you just completely ignored my question....

"I have heard (and reviewed incidentally) 'Sunshowers' by M.I.A. "

Don't suppose you have a link to that do you?
If not, I'm sure you would have it saved on your computer, so can you post it here?

Dom, I'm writing a reply now. I just wanted to let you know just in case it wasn't fast enough or you wanted to make another rather wanky ocmment about taking half a day to respond. Ciao for now!

Kudos for the juvenile Laurel and Hardy gag as well Mr G. I've always been more of a Buster Keaton fan myself. Does this make you Benny Hill? You don't sound like Benny Hill, there's far more Jim Davidson circa 1986 about you.

No, I'm someone who, as I said above, thinks that the Streets are a one-trick pony, and that that trick isn't very entertaining at all. He's a hugely overrated musician in every way. You and I have the same opinion on the Streets, so perish the thought that I think Skinner is some kind of genius and should be praised on a cerebral, emotional and ironic level.

I questioned your comment that people put on Jamaican accents based on listening to 50 Cent. It's more likely that your comment was a throwaway one that doesn't have much relevance to anything. I know you're aiming both barrels at people who adopt a specific persona based on their current musical fantasy icon and that is pathetic. I simply found your wording to be somewhat suspect.

"True, but unfortunately that is how supposedly educated but ultimately mis-informed and uneducated people perceive the so-called working classes to be."

Quit with all the 'working class suffering' going on here. It's what all factions do. Each shitty group shits on itself and on those above and below it. There's plenty of misconceptions over what the middle-classes and the upper classes are, it isn't just the poor old working class that suffers. There's as much bigotry and hate at the bottom as there is at the top. In your opinion, who currently makes the biggest misconceptions as to what the working class actually is?

Every lead singer in every band postures! Jagger did, Lydon did, Gallagher does, Iggy Pop does... Is it only offensive when it's a group like So Solid Crew trying to act a bit tough? Honestly, after re-reading John Lydon's autobiography, some of the phrases you use totally echoes the feelings the establishment had about punk.

If the majority of So Solid Crew grew up on council estates and went through serious shit that gets reflected in their lyrics and posturing, I fail to see how that can be classed as being fake and false.

Your major failing is that you've lumped in MIA and, to some extent, So Solid Crew in with this spurious term 'chav', surely destined to be as hopelessly misused as the words 'facist' and 'Nazi'. I agree entirely with you on Skinner and his laddish image appealling to the thug mentality. I heard the same arguments when I was 19 against Oasis and those arguments did have a basis to them. The thug mentality always needs an icon, I have no doubt that some of them probably like a bit of Morrissey now that he's flirting with guns and a bit of scrapping. Yet you focus on the shitty points of Mike Skinner and that leads me to wonder how the fuck you can bring MIA into that same bracket. What traits do they share? Did I miss her limited edition LP espousing the virtues of Stella and kebabs on holiday? Was there a B-side I failed to grab entitled 'Cor, Look At The Tits On That'? I saw plenty of US and Canadian press on her, saw her perform in Toronto and she was fucking great. There was nobody quibbling over what class she ripped off, no worries about her authenticity. All they saw was a British Sri Lankan chick getting up there on stage and slamming out some top music. There was no Burberry present, no laddish element (quite the damn opposite actually, as befits Toronto's reputation as a homosexual Mecca), she made a few little political rants and everyone had a great time. It's only back here that I've heard a few rather wanky mentions of her being some art school fraud and that is disappointing. In a time when the right-wing elements are gathering thunder, where major's vision of a classless Britain have finally been pissed upon, and the main Opposition leader can evoke Enoch Powell in his election campaign, the fact that there is this rather talented ethnic lady making music should be something to be proud of, not sneered at. I fail to see how you can lump in a young British Sri Lankan female who spends much of her time hopping around about politics and terrorists in with the lager and shit sportswear brigade. It smacks of cheap generalisation and nothing else.

If I wasn't pissed, I make take offense at being called gunners ;D

Haha. Yeah 50 cent has a jamaican accent? news to me.
In general, what a load of horseshit.

It's a term of affection dahlinks :)

mia=yawn on a lawn
reminds me of trying to walk down portabello road on my way
to somewher better

Listened to her album to see what the fuss was, wasn't majorly keen but it wasn't bad. She's a bit 'token-Indie-kid's-urban-act' though (have you seen how the sodding NME plug her? Poor lass). Those drainpipe-jeaners have to look 'broad minded'.

Haven't read this article, but "Sunshowers" aside, M.I.A is ludrirusly overrated. A scenester with little to say, who makes no attempts at writing memorable songs, with an album of a few neat drum sounds backing some grating London shout-outs. Missable.

I agree that she's not a natural crowd worker and definitely needs to pick up on that. I don't think the music is the problem, she doesn't sound any worse than Peaches in terms of musical emptiness. When I saw her in Toronto, and from what friends of mine have said of other North American gigs, she can gig well, there's this sort of naive charm to it that is pretty entertaining. It makes a refreshing change to have someone who isn't full of ego and piss lamping around on stage.

That UK cynicism is clearly exhibited by the post above. 'How dare she work with Diplo, why does he waste his time with her?' Maybe it's because he likes her, fancied the gig and, more pertinently, isn't some precious hip-hop snob. When MIA started getting press in the US and Canada, for once it was a British act who wasn't hyped up to the eyeballs by the NME. I wonder if many people's opinion of her is simply stoked by the UK press hype and their opinion is formed way before listening to the music. That's the only explanation I can give why some people feel the need to chuck in the daft genre tags...

"grind-core-urban-pop-rap shit"
"chav-pop"

Well, at least she's all encompassing.