#10 dollar

Often known as Maya, M.I.A. was born Mathangi Arulpragasam, a Tamil named based on the Hindu goddess Matangi. Though born in London in 1975, her family moved back to Sri Lanka before her first birthday and their experience was affected by the Sri Lankan civil war (1983). Her father, Arular, became a political dissident, her family went into hiding, and she and her siblings moved back to England with her mother Kala in 1986, returning as refugees. Maya’s first two albums were titled Arular and Kala, after her parents.

Her musical style is a wonderfully unique and independent alternative hip-hop, with lyrical content that’s often all about embracing and celebrating her own experiences of overcoming. Her vibe was fighting for what you want in the world. She reflects on the intersection of different cultures of Western expansion into countries like Sri Lanka (in tracks like Sunshowers), the refugee experience (Fire Fire) to settling down and managing to find security and identity in a new diverse place (tracks like Warriors or World Town).

I’d specifically like to highlight the track 10 dollar, from her first album. If you overhear it casually, it may sound cheery, but it has some interesting lyrics you might pick up on that are way more interesting than a song like this had any business being.

Lolita was a man eater Clocked him like a taxi meter … China Girl grew up to be a big girl Had her sights set on a bigger world Dial-a-bride from Sri Lanka Found herself a Yorkshire banker Need a visa? Got with a geezer Need some money? Paid him with her knees up Year later, started to ease up Got her own way, shouted out, “See ya”

In the first place, Maya describes a young girl in Asia who’s resorted to prostitution with Western tourists. It’s a scenario that you feel conflicted about of course, because it’s an arrangement of mutual benefit that both parties agree to, but it’s also a scenario she wouldn’t participate in if she wasn’t impoverished and desperate, so there’s arguments on both sides about the ethics of the wealthier party participating in this.

What if instead of prostitution, it was a relationship? If a rich person in America dates a poor person in America, could that be unethical in the same way if the poorer person only agrees to date you because you’re rich? I don’t know, and that’s not the point of this post.

The reason I found it so interesting is because Maya puts a positive, empowering spin on something that’s usually nothing more than a victim narrative. She tells the story of an enterprising young girl who sees opportunity and goes for it, and she not only has sex with a man but marries him and gets him to take her back to England. Then, after building up enough resources and connections that she could manage on her own, she leaves him. There’s a thematic reversal, where the person who was being used as a resource (sex object) comes to use the other party as a resource (source of money and property).

The chorus of the song is the girl’s memory of spotting him for the first time, realizing she’s low on money, and deciding in desperation to try and seduce him after seeing he’s interested. The name of the song, 10 dollars, was her price.