Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

"Ain't Nobody Got Swagger Like Us!" was M.I.A's ironic proclaimation on the awesome Paper Planes, while the line was meant in jest its sentiments couldn't be truer. No one in the world has swagger like M.I.A, no one is even close, their not even playing on the same field, hell I'm not even sure if she's playing the same sport as everyone esle. The line is a tongue in cheek throwaway in a song that puts capitalist consumerism and the live to work cultures to the sword while simultaniously critiquing war and it's realist motivations. Ultimately the song like M.I.A is vague, it's as deep as you want it to be, M.I.A has always said the lyrics are intentional vague, so that the listener can make his or her own interpretation and have a personal unique reaction. Perhaps when you can assess your own priorities and moral compass by how you interpret the child sung "All I Wanna Do is *Gun Shots* and Take Your Money", it's a wonderful contrast between violent pistol blasts and the innoncence of the clearly African child vocal. For me it immediately conjures images of child soldiers in Africa or the kid who shot Omar in the Wire. The song is typical of M.I.A's flow; one minute she's opting for some serious social detialing describing and man who lives his entire life pumping gas just to get by, but then suddenly she decides to start texting her friend Habibee and then as if distracted by a beautiful butterfly she'll start humming a nursary rhyme harmony.

Thinking back to the original line "Ain't Nobody Got Swagger Like Us", it was sampled and turned into a track by T.I, Lil' Wayne, Kanye West and Jay Z and

through outfit with black and white lady bird prints and sun glasses, looking fabulous, that it became apparent how superior she was as a creative force, a musician, an artist and most importantly as an icon. Whether it be rock, pop, dance or Hip Hop M.I.A is a free spirit on a completely different planet to everyone else.

Kala was her masterpeice, taking the superb Arular and improving on it in every possible way. The reason this album stands out above all others is that it speaks for everyone, literally everyone, unlike Arctic Monkeys who speak directly to the young people of great Britian, or Lily Allen who speaks for western women or The Streets music for Geezers, M.I.A is global and all inclusive. Kala contains infulences from pretty much every continent on planet earth, this is future music, it speaks to a boy in Cape Town as clearly as it speaks to a scenester in New York. Whether it be the didgeridoo and Aborignal children on Mango Pickle Dance, or the bollywood meets future club stomp of Jimmy, or the African drums and chants on Hussel this is a clasidescope of music from around the world rooted around M.I.A's care free south London rap.

In this way Kala is the definitive 21st century record, when globalization reached every corner of the world, immigration and multicultralism spread, the internet connected kids in their bedrooms in London with outraged Iranian voters, this is the decade when the world shrunk considerably. Ironically while this album feels like it could have been made anywhere in the world by some kind of omnipotent super being, it's could just have easily been made in multicutral London (and probably was). It's a sign of the times M.I.A could have encountered all these influences and peoples on a tube journey around London just as easily as she could have flying accross the world. M.I.A herself is a Sri Lankan Londoner but this record reeks of London, Melborne, New York, Cape Town, Paris and where ever the fuck else. This is World Music, real world music, music that is just affecting in the east as it is in the west. As M.I.A uncomprisingly states she "Put's People On The Map Who've Never Seen A Map".

Musically this album has everything, whether M.I.A is crooning her way through the Pixies Where Is My Mind? on the sick synth crunch of £20 dollars, seeing M.I.A at her rage filled best telling the story of shanty towns in Africa where they can buy AKs for twenty dollars but don't worry it's all good because they still by T.I. records. Then of course M.I.A couldn't redifine world music without changing the face of dance music with the reworking of Jimmy Jimmy Aaja from an eighties bolywood film into a twentfirst century neon disco stomper. Then there's bolywood meets Brazil carnival stomp of Boyz that has M.I.A going all future whore talking about "Dogging On The Front Of Your Red Honda", it can't seem to decide whether its a sexy rap or a nursary rhyme. Then the middle east meets Africa on the electro squlesh of Down River or the ghosty bongo driven The Turn. I could go on and on there's so much to discuss about each track whether its a sampling The Clash's Straight To Hell or a crazy South African horn blast. This is crazy future music, that continual suprises, constantly changes, is always evolving and is only consistant in its awesomeness.

Perhaps the ultimate display of M.I.A's sheer brilliance is the albums weak track (yes it has one) Come Around. Timberland takes over production of the track and beneath M.I.A's wacky samples is one of Timberland's trade mark beats, it's remarkable that the decades most succesful producer who has reivented pop music and saved the careers of Justin Timberlake, Madonna and Nelly Furtado (as well as reinventing the wheel with Missy Elliott), manages to sound so pedestrian and dull next to M.I.A, the track is delightful when M.I.A is allowed to be her sychofrenic self but when it's Timberland heavy, it's limp. It shows the difference between the best of mainstream and something new, something different, and somethign impossible to recreate.

Finally the albums greatest achievement is that it redefined World Music. World Music used to be a term for non Western music, there was nothing world about it, it was just music from countries that were non Western who didn't ascribe to the mainstream rock and roll and pop of the UK/US. M.I.A said fuck that, and spread her creative wings accross the entire globe and drew it all together into a wonderful cluster fuck of colour and sound. M.I.A doesn't deal in nation states, she deals in cultures and peoples, she makes music for the modern world, a united world and an idealised future world. So welcome to The Modern Age (well I had to give the Strokes something), M.I.A is the true global superstar, Kala is the bible of the new world music, and in her own words M.I.A "represents the World Town".