It seems like that rapper M.I.A. is just the latest musician to cause a stir with an online video. The content of her latest video “Born Free,” which was released on Monday, April 26, has been getting a lot of buzz.
A day after M.I.A.’s graphic nine minute video for “Born Free” directed by Romain Gavras arrived on the internet and managed to generate extensive interest with large number of people searching for it on the web, YouTube yanked the song from its site due to the violence and brutality that were depicted.
The extreme brutality of the politically driven video which attracted the ire of many critics depicts a group of soldiers who hunt down a band of redheads by killing them one by one in the desert. It also includes police violence nudity and profanity which has led to its censorship by many websites.
It didn’t take long to M.I.A., to respond about the removal of her video on YouTube. On Tuesday, April 27, the rapper took on Twitter, “F— umg who won’t show it on YouTube! for the U.S.” However, the 34 year old rapper retracted her statement when she discovered that it was not the fault of her record company to pull the video from YouTube. “Ok, not UMG [Universal Music Group] fault!”
No doubt, M.I.A. the daughter of a Skri Lanka Tamil revolutionary got everybody’s attention and the video can still be viewed on her official site, miauk.com for those who haven’t seen it yet.
In the meantime, the rapper posted a note on her Twitter page urging her fans to help her pick a title for her upcoming album: “MIA tracklist for LP coming June Yet Untitled. Open to suggestion.”
“Born Free” is expected to appear in M.I.A.’s forthcoming third studio album.
The potential 10-song track list for her upcoming album is as follow:
1. The Message
2. Born Free
3. Meds and Feds
4. Lovealot
5. Tequilla
6. It Is What It Is
7. XXXO
8. Tell Me Why
9. Story Told
10. Space
