Fresh, new, invigorating
This cd is great. It's fresh, new, invigorating, original, and fun. Personally, I love it for upbeat workout music. If you like M.I.A., check out Santogold as well.

Crappy Beat Music
I hate that first of all, she had to sample The Clash and everytime they play her song on the radio, I think it is The Clash.
This is really nothing more than crappy beat music. People seem to rave about it and I cannot understand why. The lyrics are not great, the background music is not original or anything.

I am a huge music fan and historian, and MIA is one of the most overrated artists of the new age. I respect her and her art, but just because you love music does not mean you can make it worth a darn. I am living proof of that. Haha.

superlative hooks
Outrageous genius. The catchiest dance album I've heard in five years. This is one of those "something new" moments in music that come along only once in a long while but change everything once they do.

Slick!
This artist is from Sri Lanka, and she's got a serious groove! Interesting twists with her beats, but nothing complex. Very catchy, but lyrics are real. Good imagery, good flow, uses diverse instruments. Definitive! A good buy!

M.I.A is the Future
From the minute I heard Galang I knew I had touched upon something groundbreaking, fresh, and inspiring. Kala is a sleeker more polished extension of the genius M.I.A displays on Arular.
I get mixed reviews when I share this music with people...people either love it or hate it. I believe the people that hate it so vehemently or don't get it can't easily put it into a category and therefore dismiss it. Some of the ignorance about M.I.A on this board confuses me. Her success can't all be attributed to "great production" as she produced most of her first album in her bedroom!! Also, she is an incredible lyricist and poet who uses repetition, abstract images, and mixes nonsense with meaning quite eloquently. A lot of negative reviews on this board tend to be full of empty criticality - "i don't get it" or "it's repetitive" or "she's not good". A third grader could write something more personally reflective and soulful. Don't hate on M.I.A just because you don't care for her - we should be respecting young people who are willing to cross-genres and break boundaries...it takes a lot of courage!