I was first introduced to Sri Lankan/English hip hop artist, visual disruptor, politico, and all-around sexy force of nature M.I.A. in March of 2005, when a friend much hipper than I to cutting edge jams included "Galang" on a birthday mix CD she made for me. I was bowled over. Not because I'd never heard anything similar-sounding; though the song certainly combines sounds in a brilliant and catchy way, hip hop has been biting South Asia's musical style for years, while UK dance beats and Caribbean reggae and reggaeton have been known to mingle freely. It was two things, really, that caught my attention. First, the personality behind the song; unlike the Diddys of the world, she was someone I could relate to. Like me, she was a young girl venturing out into the big scary world with only her attitude to protect her. She'd been given a lot of advice -- "suck a dick'll help you/don't let em get to you" -- and was now spitting it back out in a parody of her own situation. She had a cool bravado without being ridiculous, and she kept asses shaking with an infectious chorus about "blazing a blaze". In short, she was A Girl I'd Smoke A Blunt With.

The second thing I loved was that South Asia -- long a victim to the West's aforementioned biting, musical and otherwise -- was finally biting back, with her as its representative, its voice.

A lot has happened since then. Fast forward to 2007 and there have been world tours, underground hits, visa problems, a rising popularity in the blogosphere, a somewhat public breakup with boyfriend and collaborator Diplo, and a whole lot of defending herself against those who would deny her credit for her work because they just can't deal with the idea of a gorgeous Sri Lankan woman being the mastermind behind such brilliant, dirty, political tracks that alternately tempt and smack you like a bomb wrapped in candy.

And now, this: M.I.A.'s critically acclaimed latest release, Kala, has somehow made it to the top of Rolling Stone's disgustingly formulaic "Top Albums of 2007" list, beating out perennial old people favorite Bruce Springsteen for the number one spot. I can just hear Jann Wenner's voice in my head going, "Hey, Brooklyn kids. Yeah, you in the skinny jeans! I just want to make sure you know that we are down with the youth culture of today. We pay attention to all you weird blog people, and we even included some artists who are not white as fuck! Also, I think it might complement your hip, indie rock lifestyle if you smoked. Can I interest you in some Camel cigarettes?"

What does this mean for Maya Arulpragasam? Probably not too much. The experimental, global, take-no-prisoners vibe of Kala despite its being associated with such mainstream influences as Timbaland and Interscope proves that she's going to keep on doing what she does best, with or without your approval. However, for pop culture at large, it can only be beneficial to have a quality, boundary-pushing artist/positive female role model on MTV... even though they keep fucking her over with censorship and the like. On the flipside, each time big media does something obnoxious to her and she posts emphatically in her MySpace blog about it, it draws attention to the everyday censorship that most of us take for granted.

So crunk yourself up, have an M.I.A. dance party, and get psyched that for once, an artist who's hit the big time is still playing by her own rules.

Paper Planes, gunshot sounds in tact:


Nasty beats and brutal politics: agit-pop confection Sunshowers


Bollywood take-off Jimmy:


When you contract Bird Flu, you dance until you die: