Performer M.I.A., as many know, has an unexpected pop hit on her hands with “Paper Planes,” released last year on her CD Kala, but used in the trailer to the film Pineapple Express, which turned it into mall fodder. In case you missed it:

Racialicious offers up an insightful critique on M.I.A. and her presumed politics, which a lot of progressive types have ascribed to be radical (in a positive way). An excerpt:

That said, I have always been a bit skeptical of M.I.A’s politics. Is she just projecting an irresistible (lucrative) image, or is she actually doing anything? When I went to her show at McCarren Pool in June, it made me a bit uncomfortable to be dancing around with a bunch of hipsters in Brooklyn while she has images of children from developing countries flashing across the back of the stage as her visual aids.

That’s part of the brilliance of M.I.A.’s whole persona. Her music, and the visual effects in her shows, and even her voice, are so flashy and noisy and chaotic. But I mean that in the best way possible. She seems to represent our generation of media-saturated, globalized, de-sensitized minds. And she is somehow able to shout over all the noise.

Though it is hard to agree with one analysis of M.I.A.’s music as a political manifesto, there seems to definitely be progressive thought. M.I.A.’s alleged support of the Tamil Tigers, as Clyde points out, has generated a conservative backlash. Beyond that, her musical career, as Racialicious implies, seems to travel a trajectory in which white hipsters rather than communities of color are her primary audience, generally speaking. Not saying it’s not good music. Not saying there’s no value in what she does. Just saying.

Even if you disagree, two indirect points get raised in the posts:

Does anyone know of anything outside of music that M.I.A. does for oppressed communities?

Does anyone know of efforts by M.I.A. to directly politically or otherwise serve oppressed communities?

Not criticizing, but couldn’t find anything and was wondering if anything was being done. Thoughts appreciated.

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