Indian chicks they get men laid
Milk and honey, smoke high grade
Gold and diamonds, gems and jade.
Ride up on our tanks, invade
Blow up things to save our name
Mina Tina Rina Sabrina
Being a super Indian babe.

As a rap, it’s fairly typical. There’s bling, drugs, violence, sex, a vague sense of ethnic mockery. But I can’t help but close-read its politics. A lot of rap is just self-identification—it’s all about where you’re from, who’s your friend and who’s your enemy. And M.I.A. has gotten much flak (see the comments to that post) for the ways in which she identifies, whether its with ethnic separatists, the extremely poor (see her comment about coming from a mud hut, among many other choice quotes, here), or hustlers.

But M.I.A.’s switch from third to first person confuses that self-identification here, though, and speaks to her tumultuous background moving from London to Sri Lanka to India to Sri Lanka and finally back to London. Initially she seems to be praising Indian women as distinct from herself—a shout-out to the people she did live with briefly during her childhood. But then she continues with “ride up on our tanks, invade” and a sing-songy list of Indian female names, suggesting that the names being saved are Indian ones.

This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense considering that, even if no tanks have invaded, India and Sri Lanka have an uneasy history. M.I.A. is often taken to be a supporter of the Tamil Tigers, with whom her father fought against Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese-dominated government. India has sent troops twice to Sri Lanka, including in the late 1980s to disarm those very fighters. In 1991, a Tiger-affiliated suicide bomber took the life of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (some say that bomber, a woman, was radicalized after Indian soldiers raped her). Since then, India has been hesitant to become involved in Sri Lanka. It does send non-lethal military aid to the official Sri Lankan government, and some of India's tens of millions of Tamils undoubtedly have sympathy for their fellows across the strait.

And the unease isn’t only political. I would imagine that most Sri Lankans aren’t pleased when they’re mistaken for Indian — like, say, a Salvadoran assumed to be Mexican. It implies that the biggest country in the region is the only identity that has meaning or relevance on the world stage. So why wouldn’t M.I.A., who’s made it to that world stage, boast about her country and her fellow Sri Lankan women? Why would she choose to praise Indian women, who have enough exoticizing eyes on them, thanks to Bollywood and beauty pageants?

Despite all those eyes, there are very few depictions of Indian women in pop culture—including and especially in India, whether created by men or women—that are as brashly, crassly sexy as this verse. Unless they're villainesses, pop-portrayed Indian women tend to be demure and too exalted and lovely to be possessed of sexuality. This verse lets Indian women own and express their sex. Coming from the mouth of M.I.A., “milk and honey,” which could have some racial, exclusionary suggestiveness, just seems to symbolize luxury. Same thing goes for the list of jewels, formerly plundered and now proudly worn. Mixed-up identification or no, the lyrics work as a reimagining of Indian women. And they’re pretty catchy, too.

*That's a lyric from my current favorite track, "Bamboo Banger."

Photo courtesy EPA.