Holidays are happy, especially when listening to good music.

I have been listening to lots of music this holiday break and it has been great. I am always looking for that next movement in music that blows my mind. Lately I have been really interested in the DJ scene, especially that of "mash ups" and global influences. It is a great niche for anyone who is a fan of all genres because all genres get rolled into one uber song. More than that I enjoy the global stuff. I am fascinated by the other cultures that are just killing the music scene in their respective regions. It is so frustrating how hard it is for their amazing music to penetrate our culture. I lived in Costa Rica for a few years and there I was exposed to many different styles of Latin and Afro-Caribe music and I always have been fascinated by music from India and Africa, but it is hard to be "in the know" about some of the more underground movements there. (That is why the internet is awesome, especially myspace.) When I first heard M.I.A.'s mix tape "Piracy Funds Terrorism" I had my mind blown into bits and dripped out my nose. She, along with help from Diplo, combined hip hop with favela baile funk or hard reggae or African drums. Artists like them really help with exposure of those rarer scenes. M.I.A.'s first real release, Arular, wasn't a mix tape, but the global influence was there. Now, if you add "in your face" flows and lyrics you have one intense and amazing record. Her second album was of equal "amazingness" but I feel it is a bit more sophisticated. She uses drums and temple flutes from Africa and India and combines a sort of weaved quilt of sounds and samples. You can hear more world sounds in her one CD than most people have in their entire collection. In her lyrics, she presents issues that were unheard of in main stream music. In "20$" she raps about the cost of AK's in Africa, "Hussel" speaks loud and clear about the influence of money especially in the shanty towns. Lets not forget the loud booty shakin anthem of "World Town", "hands up, guns out, represent the world town." This entry started out as just a review of some DJ stuff and world beats, but kind of digressed to a review of how badass M.I.A. is. I guess that says something in itself. I think we need more artists like M.I.A. As artists like 50 cent, Jay Z, and Dre pump their influence into the third world, its nice to have someone like M.I.A. reciprocating some third world back. (thats more interesting anyways) Her album has influenced me to investigate more and be more aware of whats going on and thats a good thing, I recommend her albums to anyone, plus she's a babe and her music is great to dance to. Now, let's go outside the western block and listen to something different like Casablanca hip-hop.