Mathangi in Action; aka M.I.A

Sunday night past, or Super Bowl Sunday to some, I shared a provocative gif image of my favorite female rapper, at Super Bowl XLVI. Not as saucy as this lovely collection. But this, because the goddess is almost never not on my mind, and especially on Valentine’s Day, when she also speaks the words on my mind regarding this day as well:


Since transitioning from being firmly a graphic artist to a rapper and pop icon, M.I.A., has reserved her birthright to flip the bird, with her own struggle with immigration and being labeled a terrorist for her words and her lineage. It isn’t this fact alone that makes me a vocal follower of Mathangi‘s words, but how she’s kept a consistent and powerful theme, that certainly makes one want nothing more than to watch

M.I.A. coming back with power power (power power!)!

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Maya, more than any other artist today, has been consistent with a single message  and an original method to communicate it. Her songs have simply moved from individual freedom (notably Born Free and Paper Plane) to the collective freedom (the entire Matangi album -more or less-, Murda Sound, and Borders). To this last note, I am most excited to see her next album, as it will plausibly touch upon freedom from the known the most, especially seeing as Borders already is such a politically charged anthem against our boxed lives.

All this said, the Goddess of Word has set herself in a conceptual box, one that can only be opened if its game is played to a win. As a singular person, even an artist, this is a mountainous task to accomplish. However, she’s certainly not alone, with three aces and a king (her albums, named after her parents and her, and her first-born son [ref]), her fans, and her connections with other pop artists such as Madonna, and some real Bad Girls (e.g. Nicki Minaj Missy Elliott, and Azealia Banks), she is definitely building a World Town.

So while she puts off those who aren’t already in the know about the world around them. For instance, Mathangi is always speaking about the crises of our planet, even if only on a human level alone, and when she finally had a large American platform, those who got the message, saw the meaning of the Matangi mudra, or middle finger, while others saw an angry girl. The power of her words in how much you hear in them and all the truth therein that would be found with a listen.

Most recently, M.I.A has been speaking out against the treatment of Syrian refugees and continuing to be persisTENT in speaking on modern freedom’s inconsistencies. So no matter what you’re doing today, whether it’s working hard to get by, celebrating love with a loved one, or, watching the Walking Dead, be sure to remember that all of these things exist in a greater picture. Walking Dead, I would argue is one that can certainly be read in a similar light as to what my Valentine’s Day crush, M.I.A raps about.

For Maya



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