what the @#$#@47??!??!

yes, i know this is "so last season" or whatever, but i was working 12 hour days, which produced a pop-culture void during the greater part of this year, so pardon me if i'm a bit tardy.

today, i was listening to my copy of m.i.a.'s "arular" and i wondered when the next album was coming out. i did a search for any upcoming tours, and it appears that she has been barred from entering the u.s. (and i am doubly embarrassed that pretty much every asian media blog had the news, and i missed it. but hey. what can ya do?)

i was aware that her song "sunshowers" has been banned by m.t.v. for making a vague reference to the p.l.o. (and when i mean vague, i mean VAGUE). her lyrics consist of stream of consciousness rhymes for the most part. there is some violent imagery, but considering her background, it's not out of place. (a good percentage of hip hop contains violent imagery, mostly from guys who live in mansions, wear lots of diamonds, and drive range rovers.)

can't stereotype my thing yo
I salt and pepper my mango
shoot spit
out the window
bingo I got em in the thing yo
now what? I'm doing my thing yo

quit bendin All my fingo
quit beating me like you're ringo
you wanna go?
you wanna win a war?
like P.L.O. I don't surrendo

yep. that's pretty much it. THAT's what got her banned. furthermore, she raps in a patois-british accent, so you can't understand 80% of what she says anyway!

now, put that next to eminem's "mosh":

Maybe we can reach Al Quaida through my speech
Let the President answer on high anarchy
Strap him with AK-47, let him go
Fight his own war, let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our soil
No more psychological warfare to trick us to think that we ain't loyal
If we don't serve our own country we're patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes, it's all lies, the stars and stripes
They've been swiped, washed out and wiped,
And Replaced with his own face, mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you'll know why, because I told you to fight

tell me, which one is more incendiary? and the tinfoil hat wearing dopes in union square say even crazier things, like "911 was an inside job!"

okay, perhaps m.i.a.'s father's ties to the tamil tigers in sri lanka has something to do with the denial of entry to the u.s. (an aside: buddhists and hindus blowing each other up? it's like beatniks and hippies throwing grenades at each other.) it's too bad. kanye west, timbaland, and missy elliott were tripping over themselves to work with her.

but why punish a daughter for her father's affiliation with a questionable organization?

we might as well deny the governor of california entry as well.

anyway, i'm aware that she's a citizen of the u.k., so she doesn't have the same rights as a u.s. citizen, but really... this is stupid. anyone with a functioning brain cell can see how ridiculous this is. i wish these reactionary fucknuts would just read this interview.

LET M.I.A. IN THE COUNTRY!