release date: Aug. 21, 2007
format: cd
[single rate: 4 / 5] [4,08]
producer: various
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Bamboo Banga" - 2. "Bird Flu" (4 / 5) - 3. "Boyz" (4 / 5) - 4. "Jimmy" - 5. "Hussel" (feat. Afrikan Boy) - 8. "World Town" - 10. "XR2" - 11. "Paper Planes" (4 / 5) - 12. "Come Around" (feat. Timbaland)
2nd studio album by M.I.A. Her debut album Arular (2005) was with reference to her father, and this is dedicated her mother, named Kala. Her third album /\/\ /\ Y /\ (aka 'Maya') (2010), succeeding this one, is literally her own.
I first came across her in 2008 after she had released the single "Paper Planes" taken from this very album. The track is (like most of her music) great uk hip hop dance-pop electropop fused with grime (making it very different from American hip hop) and some glitch pop, and then that track is very cleverly sampled from the song "Straight to Hell" by The Clash. Her style is unique, and then she utilizes her music to speak openly about Sri Lanka vs. India vs. England vs. how the world ignores the impotent political situation in her parents' foster land. Other great tracks from the album are "Bird Flu" and "Boyz", which were both composed, recorded, and arranged in the process of travelling. M.I.A. had laid the foundation of the songs at home, then left to various parts of the world and each new place she rearranged bits, wrote new stuff and added new instrumentation to the individual song making them real world tunes.
In my mind, this is her best album and also one of the most interesting releases in 2007, although, she's really a great singles artist, as her albums are more than just interesting but also lack consistency or homogeneity.
The album ended up on many best of lists including number #1 on Rolling Stone's best albums of the year. And quite deservedly, the album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]
