Don\'t expect to get much love with this one, but what the heck. It think it\'s outstanding.
Kala is the second studio album by British experimental rapper-songwriter/producer M.I.A. and was released in August 2007.
The album features collaborations with Afrikan Boy, The Wilcannia Mob, and Timbaland and production by M.I.A., Switch, Blaqstarr, Morganics, Diplo, and Timbaland. M.I.A. had also held recording sessions with Three 6 Mafia. M.I.A. has cited the album as "shapes, colours, Africa, street, power,
****, nu world, and brave."
Kala is named after M.I.A.\'s mother (her previous album, Arular, was named after her father). M.I.A. stated that "Arular...was a real masculine album." Regarding Kala, she says, "This one is about my mom and her struggle—how do you work, feed your children, nurture them and give them the power of information?"
As with her previous album, M.I.A., whose name is Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, created the artwork for Kala, and was also involved in photography for the album. Kala debuted at number 22 on the World Albums Chart upon release. The album peaked at number three on the U.S. iTunes Music Store upon release. It debuted at number 18 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling about 29,000 copies in its first week. The album generally received a very positive reception from critics, scoring 87 on MetaCritic.