GB New Artist Spotlight: M.I.A.

Every so often, the GBs like to give some shine to those struggling artists who don’t have the luxury of the media hype machine (i.e. The Man) puffing them up to ridiculous heights that no one could live up to. There’s a whole world of untapped, unnoticed talent out there just waiting for some kind of recognition — an opportunity to prove that, yes, there’s more to music than what you see on eMpTyV (haha…I just made that up) or hear on the ray-D’-oh (not as clever, but it’s hard to top the MTV one). In the past, we put you on to such hidden gems as Dizzee Rascal, The Streets, Lil Jon, Cam’ron, and most recently The Game (it took forever for us to convince people that he was an actual person, and not a thing). Now we have yet another mumbling, accented, not-really-rapper to present to you, the discerning music fan: Maya Arulpragasam, also known to us (and soon the world) as M.I.A.

The most important thing you need to know about this new artist is, she is totally hot! And totally not white! From what we heard, this exotic brown-skinned beauty (but not black, don’t worry!) has roots in Sri Linka (there was also something about London in there, but fuck that, let’s not mess with a good fantasy here) and has seen, like, a lot of heavy stuff in her time. This ain’t no Britney Spears, honey chil’. Her style is incredible as well. She just doesn’t dress like girls at the mall do! It’s so refreshing. This is probably due to the fact that she makes a lot of her own clothes. Yes, you read right. Patterns and prints that were once only known to dorm wallpaper or casino carpeting become intriguing dresses and leggings when met with M.I.A.’s considerable skill on the mini-scissors. T-shirts that were once campy when worn by Disney World tourists become fashion-forward icons when adorned by her.

And the music? Oh my god, the music. It’s just so…so…well, if I had more space to tell you, I totally would; but I can see that my word limit is up. I promise to tell you what it’s like next time. I’d have to actually hear some of it first, of course. Haven’t had a chance to, honestly. I went to her site to do that, but…I mean, have you seen those pics of her? She’s sooo kyewt.