M.I.A., the rapper behind the songs, "Paper Planes" and "Boyz" (you may also remember her from her Grammy performance with Jay-Z, Kayne, Lil Wayne and T.I. while she was preggers), is going in on Lady GaGa.
When asked whether record labels were still needed, M.I.A. answered:
Are they even interested in making money from music anymore? Lady Gaga plugs 15 things in her new video. Dude, she even plugs a burger! That’s probably how they’re making money right now – buying up the burger joint, putting the burger in a music video and making loads of burger money.
On the topic of whether such programmes and the internet have destroyed the mythology around popstars, she said:
I don’t know. Again, there’d Lady Gaga – people say we’re similar, that we both mix all these things in the pot and spit them out differently, but she spits it out exactly the same! None of her music’s reflective of how weird she wants to be or thinks she is. She models herself on Grace Jones and Madonna, but the music sounds like 20-year-old Ibiza music, you know? She’s not progressive, but she’s a good mimic. She sounds more like me than I f**king do! That’s a talent and she’s got a great team behind her, but she’s the industry last’s stab at making itself important – saying, ‘You need our money behind you, the endorsements, the stadiums’ Respect to her, she’s keeping a hundred thousand people in work, but my belief is: Do It Yourself.
p.s. Surprised she didn't mention Rihanna's "Rude Boy" video. And, just in case you're wondering, yes, the GaGa's "monsters" are going in on M.I.A. already.
