Customer Reviews

Galang

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

OK, I'm "too old to be listening to this kind of music" according to hip hop kids, but that's THEIR problem, not mine. MIA brings a freshness and infectious funkiness to her music that takes it not just one but many cuts above a lot of the recycled late-60's anger and low-creativity beats that fuel so much other hip hop. With most hip hop I feel like I've heard it before, 30 years ago and better. When I first heard MIA (this song, in fact) my head snapped up to attention so fast I nearly broke my neck. When will we get more, and more?

It's an awful thing to load into your personal music player because there you are on the subway trying to be one of the invisibles going to work with your clone-being earpods on and Galang starts and you start rocking then feet start to moving and suddenly you just don't care what anyone else thinks, your body just says "gotta move." It's not for those with a weakness for bopping. Good get ready to work with an attitude music.

And as to MIA and other critics talking about her "mongrel beats" and not knowing where it comes from - maybe, but I'll tell you what I hear. It's inner-city double-dutch jumprope beats. Bet you if I put it on a box on any playground where kids still work the ropes, it'll play forever there in the blur of spinning ropes.

Double-dutch hip-hop, that's what I think. She's her own genre.

Buy it, listen to it, bop to it. She's really good. It's hot.

This track really got my attention. M.I.A.'s first record is great! It is such an interesting style of dance music and the politics intertwined in it make it intellectual too! Mainly though, this music will have you dancing and repeating the smart and catchy lyrics. M.I.A. has no qualms about mentioning bombs, guns, terrorists and racism in her songs.

Straddling the great musical divide, M.I.A. sticks her tongue out at the mainstream and moons the underground with a sound that both betrays and praises the music of her peers. She borrows from hip-hop, dancehall, reggaeton, electro-clash, drum 'n' bass and world music yet creates a sum different from the parts using little more than a drum machine and her own lyrical might.

Her debut album, Arular (XL/Beggar's Banquet), is a Masala of planet-rock beats and batucada cut ups set off by a delivery so cadent, it's the percussive force behind the album. M.I.A.'s most successful when she's letting loose over a dancehall rhythm, her cockney-Jamaican accent punctuating each low-end blast with proclamations of her prowess on the mike. Such is the nature of her MCing, which can be heard to blistering effect on the single "Fire Fire," on which she dismisses her peers, asserting, "Competition coming' up now/ Load up and fire, fire bo!" This is to say there's no match for M.I.A. Even comparable British MCs like Ms. Dynamite, The Streets and Dizzy Raskal fall short if only because they lack the sexual je ne se quoi that M.I.A. shamelessly exudes.

Moreover, where her countrymen exist solely within the British two-step tradition, M.I.A. is a welcome every woman coming off like a basement (Jamaican party) queen rocking a favela (Brazilian ghetto) bass line. All the while, hers is a patois that can only be heard on the streets of London, yet for all the musical globetrotting, M.I.A. has found a space that's all her own.

If you're not going to buy it, at least give it a listen... Maya's style deserves attention!

Galang is a great single. It's hard, twisted and I can't get it out of my head. I can't wait for a full-length.

this is one of the most exciting new artists i've heard all year. picture dizzee rascal had he been born a sri lankan girl, mix in some raga influences and you're getting close. if you're a fan of hip-hop that's looking towards the future or even if you're just a fan of rock and roll's underbelly, you must lend this girl your ear. the only problem: two tracks is a tease! i can't wait for more.

What makes this song so good? For starters, the beat is killer. M.I.A mixes dancehall with a slew of other styles [do I detect bangra in there, as well?]. The lyrics are like tongue twisters and are very clever. In fact, they initially raised eyebrows and even gathered controversy. M.I.A (born Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam) is the daughter of a Tamil activist-turned militant, and some even thought that the words were possible terrorist references. In fact, M.I.A. is just a very colorful and expressive artist [when she isn't rapping she is busy painting urban art compositions]. Ultimately, "Galang" succeeds on many levels. The beat is the perfect beat to listen to when you are working out and her raps are infectious. Well done, Maya, I take my hat off to you, girl.

Watched the video on yahoo. I think this is now the soundtrack to a Honda civic commercial, so don't be embarrassed for liking it. I shouldn't find it catchy, but I liked it too.

I really like the song Galang ever since I heard it on the Honda Civic commerical. (BTW, since there are only two songs on this CD it'd be better to buy each of them on itunes then getting the cd)

this is the worst song i have ever heard. i mean what is the point of listening to this.