MIA stole my idea.
I had this fantastic idea for a music project years ago: I wanted to MC over homemade beats even though I couldn’t rap or make beats. I had my schtick all worked out too. I was going to write songs about politics in third world countries. And since I’m brown and originally from a war torn country, I could totally pull it off. With me it was always a joke, but in the early 2000′s MIA showed up and completely OWNED it. She could barely rap or sing, the beats were clunky, the lyrics were off, her politics shaky…but somehow it all worked together.
Arular, her first full length, was released in 2005. That was a big year for me. That was the year I moved to metro Detroit. It was the year I realized “Holy crap, I’m in engineering school now”. It was also the year I got my first “real” job. I would work full time during the day and take classes at night. And even though MIA wasn’t from Detroit, 6 years later I still connect Arular to my beginning in that city.
While I have sentimental reasons for loving this record, it’s really just collection of fun (to me) music. Every track is an ass-shaker. Yes it is a dance record. But it’s also a hip hop record. And a pop record. And a punk record. I love music that blurs the lines between genres. I also love music that’s just a bit “difficult” to listen to. I imagine a song like Galang isn’t suited for someone who just wants to dance at the club. It’s got chants, and assaulting beats and an amateur touch in the production. The whole record sounds like this. But that’s what I find so appealing: every listen reveals something new. In my opinion, this quality gives music longevity. Because this record isn’t easily consumed, it’s not easily discarded.
Arular is also associated with one of my favorite early Detroit memories. One cool fall night, my sister and I decided to skip our night classes to check out MIA in concert at Saint Andrew’s Hall. Saint Andrew’s Hall is a 1000 capacity historic music venue in the city. Anyone that mattered has performed there, national AND local acts: Nirvana, The White Stripes Eminem. MIA had a good turn out but barely filled the venue to half it’s capacity that night. The quality of the audience? That’s what mattered. She managed to bring in people from every segment of Detroit’s population into that small room: Hip hop heads, white boys who loved indie music, South Asian kids, punks, art school nerds, old people and young people. Detroit is a very segregated city, but somehow all these people found themselves in this small venue on a Tuesday night…DANCING. Together. I don’t think anyone left that night without a huge smile on their face.
