MIA wants everyone to know, once and for all, that she is not a terrorist.
The British musician has become an unlikely star this summer. She cancelled her tours, her album is over a year old, and other than getting engaged there's not much new in her life. But in the United States, everyone's buzzing about MIA. The attention comes thanks to Pineapple Express, a new comedy by the makers of Superbad and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. MIA's Paper Planes blasts over the film's TV and radio spots, sending a million Americans to iTunes in search of "that song with the gunshots". And all of a sudden, Paper Planes – which was for many the summer jam of 2007 - has become the summer jam of 2008.
Not everyone's happy about this.
"MIA, you represent terrorism in the worst way," insists DeLon, a Sri Lankan rapper who has loosed an online video diss. "For all you people who really think that MIA is a freedom fighter – let me give you some facts ... All she wanna do is [gunshots] straight to my head!"
Over Paper Planes' looped and Clash-sampling riff, DeLon lays into MIA for a perceived support of Sri Lankan terrorism. He argues that her use of tiger iconography isn't just a reference to the terrorist Tamil Tiger group, but an endorsement of them – and a celebration of the violent organisation that her father, Arul Pragasam, was once involved with.
MIA's not having any of it. She laid into DeLon in an official statement, accusing the upstart of making a cheap play for publicity. "I don't support terrorism and never have," she wrote. "As a Sri Lankan that fled war and bombings, my music is the voice of the civilian refugee. Frankly, I am not trying to start dialogue with someone who is really just seeking self-promotion."
However, the DeLon self-promotion train continues full steam ahead. Boasting of a "new Revolution in hip-hop" that promotes "peace and unity in Sri Lanka", the rapper has also said that he is suing Universal, MIA's parent label. He claims they removed his diss track from YouTube.
Maybe someone should remind DeLon that MIA's original Paper Planes lyrics say that she'll "(cash register sound) take your money!"
