M.I.A.'s Matangi

Album: Matangi
Artist: M.I.A.
Label: Interscope Records
Songs: (1) Karmageddon (2) Matangi (3) Only 1 U (4) Warriors (5) Come Walk With me (6) Attention (7) Exodus (8) Bad Girls (9) Boom (skit) (10) Double Bubble Trouble (11) Y.A.L.A. (12) Bring the Noize (13) Lights (14) Know It Ain't Right (15) Sexodus

Author

By Kip Lyda

Publish Date

Jan. 10, 2014

M.I.A. has once again delivered an engrossing platter of ear candy with her latest effort Matangi. From the opening of “Karmageddon” through the closing track “Sexodus,” M.I.A. brings the listener along as she dominates the sonic scene; rapping over house, dubstep, and Middle Eastern beats. The sound is loud and abrasive as melody takes a backseat to fierce bass and drum. Even the reggae-influence “Double Bubble Trouble” is overwhelmed by the electronic break.

M.I.A. speaks out on a wide array of topics, including her detractors, her infamous Super Bowl appearance with Madonna, karma, reincarnation and greed. Her cadence is diffident and seemingly made to call the attention of the masses to what she is proclaiming. Being raw is also part of the scene.

In “Lights,” over a hypnotic backbeat M.I.A. declares that she “used to be a bad girl, now I’m even better,” and in “Know It Ain’t Right,” she states that although she knows the difference between right and wrong she has no qualms with either one.