The WaPo harps on our favorite word here at Sepia Mutiny: not M.I.A., ‘exotic.’ Ain’t nothing unusual about Maya’s phenotype (thanks, Turbanhead):
… that hasn’t stopped some critics from dismissing her as “the love child” of Neneh Cherry and Che Guevara and harping on her exotic runway model looks… [Link]But her aesthetic was also intimately familiar: her small-faced, tousle-haired cutenesss resembles my female Berkeley classmates; the South Indian hip-hop fans at Berkeley are legion. [Link]
Arular is to Maya what Ravi Shankar is to Norah, more or less:
After reading about M.I.A. in the Sri Lankan Times, Arulpragasam sent her a note saying, “I’m very proud of you, but you have to change the name of the album. Dad.” She didn’t. “What can you do?” she asks pointedly. “There’s many things I’m not pleased about that he’s done, so hey… . ” [Link]
MTV turns out to be prudish. Who knew? (And uninformed in Sri Lankan cuisine.)
MTV also questioned the subtext of “salt and pepper my mango,” which turned out to be culinary rather than sexual… [Link]
This, from the channel that put ‘Freak-a-Leak’ on heavy rotation:
I need a girl I can freak with, and wanna try shit, and ain’t scared of a big d—
And love to get her p— licked, by another bitch, cuz I ain’t drunk enough ta do dat.
[and so on… Link]
Journalism is going to the dogs. First they quote Nirali, next thing you know they’ll be quoting blogs 
(Congrats…)
M.I.A. told the South Asian online magazine Nirali that she “wanted to see if I could write songs about something important and make it sound like nothing.” [Link]
