Neneh Cherry that is... Remember her?
Of Buffalo stance track fame? I was barely even a teen actually when Neneh Cherry emerged on the larger scale of the music scene dropping the "Raw like Sushi" album.
There's no doubt her talent, her then exuberant, confident and defying style, made her a staple of DJ playlists and still a credible artistic influence to a number of kids growing up in the 90s.
A decade or two later, Neneh Cherry is still operating on the musical scene and enjoying some out-of-the blatant limelight, success. Her trademark genre-blend of hip-hop with a dizzying list of other influences has found no match throughout the years, in my opinion.
That is... until M.I.A took the world -- or just me -- by surprise in 2005, by insufflating some exuberance, confidence, and defiance into the now heavily coded and boxed up musical landscape.
I make no secret of the fact that the teenage voice in my head refuses to die and it is whom I credit and sometimes blame for some of my age-inappropriate choices, tastes, logics and ahem... vocabulary.
When I first heard M.I.A 's song "Galang ", the teenager in me went buh-Na-NaaS! I wasn't exactly sure what musical "era" the track belonged to. Was it some hot new stuff? Or some unnoticed 90's (moderately) old-school jam resurfacing? Was it some cool-ass world music artist about to break free from the "miscellaneous" kind of box she would be placed in if the african sing-songy tune was any indication? Couldn't tell. And couldn't care less. Whatever it was I was feeling this sound and was going to get it from my iTune store and play it some.
Galang was infectious and immediately reminded me of just how possessed I once had been by Neneh Cherry's hit songs. Buffalo stance or Manchild blasting through my audio tape player, me doing my house chores and busting some moves.
Then I caught the music video for Galang on MTV and boy did M.I.A also deliver on the visual festival front. My preteen cousins kinda rolled their eyes to the ceiling letting me know how unimpressed they were by a music video that looked more like their kid brother's clumsiest artwork than a groundbreaking imagery. Well, granted, it did look like some eight year old was let in charge of an assortment of stencils and water painting, later used as the backdrop for the video. But isn't there something quite groundbreaking in bringing back your old Andre agassi tracksuit collection (or whatever fluorescent early 90s style she is seen sporting) amid all the pseudo fashion-forward drones (hi Beyonce!) and still look like the coolest chick on the pop chart?
Top: Andre Agassi Court Challenge gears by Nike/ M.i.a brings 90s back on "Boyz" music video set.
Bottom: Neneh Cherry the original style inspiration behind M.i.a's look?
Some would argue that the 80's had already made a come-back in influencing pop artists' fashion-senses and as a direct result millions of kids' wardrobe mismatch horror sights, long before Galang hit cable TV. Maybe. But the real exciting idea here is that unlike anybody else, M.i.a's style looked like she raided her parents' attic to retrieve her past Nike/Agassi-looking sports pieces.
She channeled Neneh's aerobic-chic (?) signature and got everyone appreciating the freestyle dancing and slacker-chic (??) attitude.
I, personally took it as M.i.a making a necessary point in an industry hellbent on carefully manufactured (pussycat) dolls executing perfectly choreographed routines while boring us to death with their lack of talent on top of sounding the same as the next pop star.
Being fed that type of musical garbage ad-nauseam, it's always refreshing to get the occasional lyrical substance on a dance-able track. When it comes to lyrical substance, I'd say that they're each tackling different kind of issues. Although Neneh Cherry and M.i.a have in common catchy little ditties incorporating multicultural jazzy tones or African drum; one was more of an observer nicely calling out youngsters on some of the fouls encountered in inter-personal relationships, the other uses the inoffensive beats to back up what is considered by some, too subversive of a message. Although she now lives in Brooklyn, NY, she once was barred from traveling to the US at all. Beef with the Homeland Security? Now that's some street cred even Neneh can't claim!
What delights me in the parallel between the two artists is the similarities in the form not the in-depth concepts or artistic objectives. Neneh Cherry was having fun using and creating a patchwork of style and sounds; M.i.a follows in her splashy footstep and manages to pull it off and impress.
Andre Agassi Nike Track suits and Tees Collection Photo credits: cornedbeefhash
Neneh cherry Circa 1990s Photo/Collage credits: missomnimedia
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