In the past year, outside the world of music, there has been a prime focus on the injustice that Black people face in the United States on many levels. In response to that, a prolific movement and organization was formed, which we now know as “Black Lives Matter.” With its impact growing each day, many artists found themselves in support of the movement, which translated to some of the issues and messages being conveyed through their music. With Kendrick Lamar releasing his To Pimp A Butterfly album and Beyonce unleashing ‘Formation,’ attention towards these issues have been looked at on an even larger scale than before. With that said, not everyone seems to be a happy camper about this or even fully on board with Beyonce and Kendrick putting the focus on “Black Lives Matter.” Next up on that list is rapper/singer, M.I.A. In a new interview with ES Magazine, the ‘Paper Planes’ creator questions if Muslim and Syrian lives matter to the artists.
‘It’s interesting that in America the problem you’re allowed to talk about is Black Lives Matter. It’s not a new thing to me — it’s what Lauryn Hill was saying in the 1990s, or Public Enemy in the 1980s. Is Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar going to say Muslim Lives Matter? Or Syrian Lives Matter? Or this kid in Pakistan matters? That’s a more interesting question. And you cannot ask it on a song that’s on Apple, you cannot ask it onan American TV programme, you cannot create that tag on Twitter, Michelle Obama is not going to hump you back.’
There’s no need to guess if this will open a new can of worms for M.I.A. One to move to the beat of her own drum, time will only tell if she’s phased by the backlash that is sure to come from this. One to be an activist for her people, perhaps the focus shouldn’t be put on artists like Beyonce and Kendrick for shining the light on issues that effect their people. No matter the stance, this will surely cause a new wave of conversations on the matter at hand.
