I'll Be in Baltimore Tonight on the Amtrak

Last week, DCist blasted some serious gas in the elevator.

So here is the context. Tamil/Brit international superstar M.I.A., for at least the past year or so, has been gravitating closer and closer towards Baltimore club music and has incorporated B-more beats into many of the tracks for her second studio album, Kala, named after her mother. These tracks, often originally produced with Diplo, who himself has been gravitating towards Baltimore club for an even longer time, have been remixed recently by Baltimorean B-more club producer, Blaqstarr, to give them an even heavier B-more club sound, adding rhymes from 16 year old Baltimorean B-more club/rap lady wunderkind, Rye Rye.

M.I.A., Blaqstarr, Rye Rye and God only knows how many other Baltimoreans join together for an international tour in support of the album. M.I.A., in city after city, following proper etiquette when riding bareback on Baltimore beats and sharing the stage with a bunch of Baltimorean artists, gives shoutouts to Baltimore, throughout the tour.

In city after city, why M.I.A. is giving shoutouts to Baltimore is not lost on the audience, as just about everyone familiar with these genres enough to be a M.I.A. fan know exactly what Baltimore club is and what it sounds like. After all, Baltimore club is the latest musical tsunami taking over the dance music scene, and has been for over a year now.

Unfortunately, nobody bothered to call DCist and give them the 411 on the 410 or M.I.A.’s recent work. Last week, the tour arrived to a sold out show at the 9:30 Club. DCist’s jazz critic, Sriram Gopal, reviewed the show:

”M.I.A. came on stage with guns blazing, opening with “Bamboo Banga” off her latest release, Kala, and then charged through a 90 minute set along with her D.J., backup singers, and other assorted guests, including a child, a "'90s baby" as M.I.A. called her, who had some serious moves... If there was a flaw in her stage presence, it was that at points she addressed the crowd as if she was playing in Baltimore, where she is playing tonight.”

DER!!!!

Sriram, I know that you’re a big O’s fan, and I don’t want to be too hard on you over this. Besides, you’re the jazz critic and this is not the genre of your expertise, but what in God’s name were you or DCist thinking when the decision was made that you were the one that was qualified to cover this show? Was it the Desi thing? That’s pretty weak. I can only hope that the majority of the audience was not as oblivious as to what was going on as you, but judging from the comments there were at least a few that were as lost there as you there. I can assure you, M.I.A. was not confused as to what city she was in. She was not giving Hello Wisconsin's to the audience, she was paying tribute to the music and the other artists. Believe me, she is more than a little familiar with Baltimore. Here is a M.I.A. quote from a Fact Magazine interview describing her efforts to bring Baltimore club to the children of Chennai:

”The only western music that the kids have to go on, that they try to replicate or imitate, what they think is cool, is like 10 years behind. They’re still living off jungle and stuff, and just about getting garage. So…when I was over there I started hanging out with them, and introduced them to Baltimore club and other stuff.”

Here is an even more interesting quote from the same interview where M.I.A. explains how many of the tracks from Kala were inspired by Baltimore and her time spent in Baltimore:

“But other tracks, like ‘Paper Planes’ is totally me being in Baltimore and working with Blaqstarr - it’s inspired by being in Baltimore, and everyone being on the grind, on the hustle.”

The entire world knows what is going on here. D.C. is the only place in the world where there is a presumption that you are supposed to ignore Baltimore. M.I.A. isn’t from D.C. She doesn’t suffer from the same affliction. The rest of the world does not turn their noses up at the mention of the city of Baltimore. Here is a video of Rye Rye dancing in New York. If you listen very carefully, you might hear a subtle reference or two to Baltimore. If you’ll notice, the audience doesn’t seem to be disgusted by the mention of the city:



This explains why all art out of Baltimore, whether it is Baltimore club, or Wham City, or Dan Deacon, or literature, or film or whatever will be categorically ignored by the Washington media until either the New York Times or the Village Voice comes out and says it is okay to pay attention to something/anything from Baltimore, at which point D.C. will say “Oh yeah, that’s our back yard. That’s OUR thing.” No it isn’t. It’s a Baltimore thing, and the two obviously have nothing to do with one another. And this is why it is not okay for DCist to claim Baltimore as being under their purview. I don't care how geographically close we are.