a rant for racists #1

I hate racism with a stark passion. I have so many rants about this issue with my friends and I could go on forever and ever. Racism should be assertively addressed but thats difficult when its your "friends" being racist. What are you suppose to do in those situations? Tell them that they're "fucking dumb bitches"? Probably not the most civilised response. Although they are "dumb bitches",  you can also call it ignorance.

People disgust me as they publish their racist remarks all over social media. I thought we would have moved on from the racial inequality but I guess not. People still think they're "above" other races as they continue to discriminate others for not conforming to their culture or society. Racism mainly derives from ignorance as some people just lack the knowledge and compassion. I don't think people understand the difficulties of being coloured in the western world. I've had many experiences of racial discrimination and I use to be rather passive in these situations but I've realised that theres no reason for me to not speak up. There was a moment when I was 8 years old and I was walking along the road to get to Mission Bay with my Asian friend who was 11 at the time and a car of teenagers sped past shouting "GO BACK TO YOUR OWN FUCKING COUNTRY!" Who the hell says that to a pair of little kids? I was born here, you dumb fucks. Sometimes the racism isn't intentionally directed at me but it still relates to me, my family and my coloured friends. When I see someone being racist towards a middle-aged Asian man, it makes me upset because that could easily be my dad.

I know change doesn't happen overnight and I know I have it a lot easier than the previous generations. I hope that my grandchildren will live in a world where racism nor race exists because "race is a myth, racism is real". People need to educate each other and educate themselves. Maybe everybody should read To Kill A Mockingbird or something.



- freak out

p.s. keep an eye out for  'a rant for racists #2'

Tamale + Kanye's uncoolness

This video is too awesome. Tamale is one of my favourite songs from 'Wolf' and the music video is honestly the coolest. The song's live performance has gone beyond my expectations as the the song's high energy infects everybody that is in its presence like a contagious disease. Ugh, seriously I should have been there like up on stage or something.  And wow, the moment when the "bass drops" - it gets HECTIC. Everybody looks they're having the best time ever apart from Kanye.

I never thought Kanye could ever look awkward or "uncool" until I watched this video. He looks so out of place like he doesn't know what to do while these younger guys go crazy. He's no longer a God in that moment, he's just a dad hanging around with crazy 20 year olds. It's so funny yet so hard to watch at the same time. You can't help but cringe and feel bad for him.

- freak out

M.I.A is back with power, power!

Rating: "wow, this is even better than the day I met Justin Bieber"

No matter how many lawsuits, album setbacks and disagreements with Interscope, M.I.A IS BACK AND KILLING IT. Matangi has proven that the three years of strenuous work and wait has been worth it.  This album's release date has been pushed back by almost 12 months and during this time M.I.A got so sick of Interscope delaying the release date that she threatened to leak the album herself  - talk about bad ass, am I right? I love M.I.A so much.  I don't care how Hirschberg portrayed her in "that" 2010 article. She's one of the very few artists that has a strong message  and makes us think about the issues in our world. As a coloured young woman, I can easily relate to her and therefore she is someone I really look up to in the music industry.

M.I.A delivers Matangi with her signature abrasive production while she displays ability to create variations in her vocal presence. The album opens with Karmageddon, a meditational track with whispering vocals and resonating drum beats - the calm before the storm. Throughout this album, M.I.A has cleverly repeated a motif of a wavering sitar and the hypnotising sound of "om" (a hindu mantra), which connects certain songs together such as Karmageddon and Warriors. However M.I.A's overuse of repetition has caused me some confusion as track 7, Exodus, and the closing track, Sexodus, are near-identical. Maybe she's trying to reinforce the message or maybe its suppose to be an encore sort of thing. Since M.I.A has signed to Interscope, I can see the influence of major record label on this album as there are more "hits" for radio compared to her previous albums.

My top picks of this album are Boom Skit, Come Walk With Me and Y.A.L.A. I enjoy these songs the most mainly because they are super catchy, which is shallow of me but at least all of M.I.A's songs have some sort of message anyways. 

Boom Skit is a short and sweet track that sits just above the one minute mark in length. Over a cheerful sample loop, M.I.A directs our attention to the occurrences of racism in our ignorant society.

Come Walk With Me is an obvious "radio hit" with its simple melodies and dance production as well as its lack of controversial content that M.I.A is known for. It is a "feel-good" song where you don't have to be a good singer to sing along with M.I.A. The song closes with a sample from M.I.A's 2007 song, Bamboo Banga, that insists "M.I.A is coming back with power, power!" and I agree - she is back with power and stronger than before. 

Y.A.L.A (you always live again - a spin on the popularised #YOLO) is another contender for radio play as it verges towards the dance genre instead of alternative. I'm going to be honest here; this song actually reminds me of K-pop and I am fascinated by K-pop at the moment so that probably contributes to my enjoyment of this song. M.I.A believes in Karma (a prominent theme throughout Matangi) and suggests that we should consider the consequences of our actions since "you always live again", instead of doing stupid things and "the same shit" because "you only live once".

I adore M.I.A and I reckon Matangi truly showcases her skills as a musician, messenger and artist.  I predict this album will help push music forward with its innovative production as I know it has inspired me and therefore will have inspired many others. 

-freak out