The sleek world of post-9/11 Western popular music rarely sees the emergence of an authentic voice representing the other "side" of the world. M.I.A burst onto the scene with her second studio album to stand up for the impoverished, the oppressed, and the stereotypically feared, with a sound encompassing a wide range of Asian instrumentation and sampling. Kala tackles politics in M.I.A.'s typically radical manner, speaking in blunt terms of violence, financial inequality and third-world injustice. It also improbably spawned an immortal global hit, encouraging disenchanted youngsters everywhere to throw up their gun-fingers. Decade Defining Track: Paper Planes
