M.I.A. is an anomaly in music that will never be repeated. Her parentage, upbringing and creative background are so unique in their origins that it led to the burgeoning of a perspective that was comprehensively different and unabashedly brave.

Born in London to Sri Lankan parents, M.I.A. spent her childhood in Sri Lanka in the midst of the country’s civil war. Her father was a Tamil activist and meant that her family was in frequent hiding from the Sri Lankan Army who wanted to suppress the Tamil independence cause. M.I.A. returned to London as a refugee at the age of 11 and was raised in a housing estate. She first took note of hip hop music after her family’s apartment was ransacked and her radio was stolen; she lay in bed that night and heard the bassline of Public Enemy’s music emanating through her walls instead. M.I.A. has stated that her first embracement of Western identity was through music. She studied fine arts, produced political artwork and worked as a graphic designer and videographer before she embarked on her music career in her mid-20s.

M.I.A.’s history would ensure that any of her produce would feature a political tone but her debut album, Arular, is her peak as it is the culmination of her life to that point. There is the rallying call “Pull Up the People”, observation of London youth “Galang”, account of teenage prostitution “10 Dollar” and identity piece “Sunshowers”. It is an album so varied in its musical background with its incorporation of world, dancehall, electronic and punk music but kept together by its rooting in a hip hop sensibility and the flair of M.I.A.’s compositional talents.

There is one song on Arular that flaunts her storytelling abilities: “Amazon”. Opening with a contextual explanation, M.I.A. was kidnapped from a street in London and has become a missing person. She reflects on her life prior to that point and how it was “all this for revolution” but is brought to the reality of being held for ransom in the Amazon jungle. M.I.A. pleads for freedom but her calls go unanswered. She then exercises some remarkably delicate poetic descriptions to depict rape: “smoking on a Benson, tryin’ to get me undone / let me go, I don’t want your attention” and “minutes turned to hours and became our dates / when we shared raindrops that turned into lakes.” M.I.A. then describes the effects of Stockholm syndrome as the feelings from her captivity become incoherent: “bodies started merging and the lines got grey / now I’m looking at him thinking maybe he’s okay.” It culminates with M.I.A. declaring that it is alright she has been forgotten as she no longer needs to be saved.

“Amazon” by M.I.A. A song by an artist both in a class of their own.