We’ve all heard by now. M.I.A.’s new album, /\ /\ /\ Y /\, (turning Maya into a name impossible to google) has leaked despite her efforts to push the release date back to July 13. Now you can hear not only bits and pieces but the album in its entirety as it has popped up in various places online. With all the talk and media the Sri Lankan singer-rapper has also ambushed everyone with, it has better be worth the hype, right?

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Continuing the snarky but thoroughly entertaining trend of today’s more artily-inclined musicians and performers beating up on their Top 40 contemporaries, NME reports that M.I.A. has set her sights on pretty-sure-he’s-a-genderless-pod-person-capable-of-asexual-reproduction/ singer,  Justin Bieber (hey, we can’t all radiate the machismo of Zach Efron, right?).

While defending her recent controversial video, “Born Free” (you know, the one featuring the graphic ginger genocide), M.I.A. dropped this bomb on the Biebs:

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British rapper/singer/songwriter/record producer/political activist/and everything else you can think of, M.I.A has picked the first single of her as-of-yet untitled album and the track is called “XXXO”.   The song has a club feel to it. She seems to be playing it safe with this one but judging from her past creations it is going to be a hit no matter what it sounds like or what she sings/raps about.

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Ever since M.I.A. released her video for her shocking punk rock song, “Born Free,” music critics have been racking their brains for the correct interpretation of her depiction about the state-armed forces. It was gruesome, it was unpleasant but kind of awesome as well.

There’s one scene in particular that everyone remembers. (Note: If you have not watched the video yet, this is a spoiler alert.) We could all see that red headed boys were the victims in her storyline, but what we didn’t see coming was a commando shooting one of the young, innocent, and very frightened boys in the head.

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We brought you M.I.A.‘s track, “Born Free,” on Friday and now we’ve got the brand spanking new video to go along with it. Similarly to Lady Gaga, (which she’ll be upset about if she finds out about this comparison) the video is nearly 10 minutes long and meant to be a short film. However, very much unlike Lady Gaga, there isn’t any scandalous choreographed dance moves and Wonder Bread in M.I.A.’s video.

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It was just yesterday when we excitedly told you about a new M.I.A. album possibly coming in the summer, but it was also yesterday that M.I.A. completely slammed the New York Times on her twitter account.

Twitter accounts may not mean anything to people who don’t use it as a news source. We understand that you may not care if your favorite is making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. However, M.I.A. may have provided her followers (including some of us!) with one of the worst  Twitter experiences yesterday afternoon. The first tweet from the rapper/singer stated, “FUCK NEW YORK TIMES!!!” but the angry statement was not unaccompanied.

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The last we heard of M.I.A. was when she got angry about fans thinking she named her baby, “Ickitt.” (Although, we can see how people may have gotten that from “Ikhyd.”) Her last album, Kala, was a huge success thanks the controversial gun noises in “Paper Planes” and its massive placement in the film, Pineapple Express.

According to Pitchfork, M.I.A. is currently wrapping up her third studio album and it may be released sometime in the summer. She is working with producer/songwriter/DJ and ex-boyfriend, Dilplo, again but she told Rolling Stone that she has been happily collaborating with DJ Blaqstarr as well.

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At 18-years-old she is the first (and only) artist to sign with M.I.A.’s record label N.E.E.T.—Rye Rye. This young rapper has come a long way from her hard-hitting days performing at clubs in Baltimore. Today, her new single, “Bang,” produced by Blaqstarr and featuring M.I.A. appears on the Fast & Furious motion picture soundtrack and is expected to be released as the first single in her upcoming debut album, which is set for release in the summer.

Many of her videos show the young Baltimore star dancing with another dancer next to her, while chanting, “throw it out and bang, that’s right throw it out and bang!” The song does however, mention the word bang more than enough times, but still the tune is dangerously catchy and will surely become a club favorite (if it already isn’t), but you’ll have to check out the song below yourself to make sure.

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Indie label Mad Decent, created by Philadelphia-based DJ and producer Diplo, has made a partnership deal with another indie, Downtown Records.

Home to artists such as Bonde do Role, Brick Bandits, and DJ Blaqstarr, Mad Decent will join acts like Gnarls Barkley, Justice, Eagles of Death Metal and Santigold at Downtown, which already partners with A-Trak and Kid Sister’s Fool’s Gold Records. Dance music seems to be congregating under the same banner.

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