Icon Status: M.I.A.

M.I.A. (மாதங்கி 'மாயா' அருள்பிரகாசம்) is inspiring to me on so many levels. She's bad ass, inspires me not to give a what-what and she is a fierce fashion babe. She is also a humanitarian and an out-spoken WoC and in virtue of who she is, what she says and how she says it - I reckon M.I.A. is a rad human-being and someone that I greatly admire.

She has taken issue with the way females and PoC are undervalued in our society, telling Pitchfork (that consistently assumed that her bf Diplo was writing her music...wtf?) that "“I just find it a bit upsetting and kind of insulting that I can't have any ideas on my own because I'm a female or that people from undeveloped countries can't have ideas of their own unless it's backed up by someone who's blond-haired and blue-eyed.” (Source) Her autonomy, creativity and power is threatening to our culture and the best part is - she knows it! She has harnassed this power and uses that position to speak her mind openly and with meaning:

"I'm not coming at it as a politician, it's my own personal experience. And I just think that that's just what people want to put out there, you know, "You don't have the right to talk about this". And they use me as a puppet to explain that to you, that only people who, you know, have a PhD in this shit are allowed to talk about this. Or that only politicians are allowed to talk about politics, and that's why we're fucked, because the cycle is constantly kept within that fucking framework. There aren't more people standing up and telling their personal experience...if a normal civilian comes up and says "Hey, this happened in my village and I'm not happy about it", we're not allowed to talk about it. You have to follow this bureaucratic bullshit to get any sort of action, and it's all part of this cycle. Like back in the day, we had ideals of revolution and fighting back, and most of the time that shit starts with individual people having personal relationships, these experiences. And now it's so disconnected and the media can paint a picture for you...they make so much bureaucracy and politics, and I think taking away the personal aspects, the human aspects of these political issues is really wrong. Whether it's the floods, or starving people in Africa, or whatever. It's all funnelled through this channel, you really are not getting it from the horse's mouth, you know?" - M.I.A., (The Pheonix)

By simply speaking out on issues that matter to her in a provocative way and from the platform that she built for herself, M.I.A. is actively challenging an oppressive system that values academia over lived experience. She speaks for herself, and in doing so, she is a role model for other people to share their experiences and know that they are of value. Her music is political, her words strong and with purpose; her history is complex and tied to third-world struggles with which she is still actively engaged. Her hip-hop influences are not limited to money and sex - she is articulate and progressive while remaining funny and cheeky.

Thanks for doin' you, gurl. You inspire me and you are an icon!!!!

Now enjoy some hot sexy pixx of M.I.A. bein' a badass: