British music in the first decade of the 2000s could be defined by many things. The New Rock Revolution. The emergence of Grime. The continuation of UK garage. Poptism and Talent Shows were in the charts and nu metal and post-hardcore was fuelling the rock underground. But an artist that defied everything else happening around her but defined everything in her wake, was MIA. Starting off with her scrappy DIY debut album Arular in 2005, with similarly scrappy singles “Galang” and “Sunshowers”, her sound was a dizzying mix of whatever she could get her hands on: Hip-hop, jungle, dancehall, bhangra, electro, whatever but always with an ear for the mainstream. But the world truly knew her name with the release of “Paper Planes” in 2008. A monster single that fused together themes of immigration, public paranoia and being a gangster with biting satire, blasting gunshot effects and an eternal pop hook and a forerunner to Rihanna and Childish Gambino's "This is America". This is New British C