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Song Stories

“Space Odyssey”

M.I.A. | 2010

Maya Arulpragasam, a.k.a. M.I.A., is best known for her clanking beats and unusual samples, but she and dubstep producer-DJ Rusko went a different sonic direction on this dreamy piece of head music. According to M.I.A.'s publicist, "The song and video were made Monday night for $100," and it was quickly released via Twitter. Here the singer continues her ongoing feud with the New York Times, decrying the fact that they short-listed her native Sri Lanka as a top place to visit in 2010, even though people there where being shot. The song subsequently appeared on Maya.

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“Sweet Home Alabama”
Lynyrd Skynyrd | 1974
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“Fantasy”
Mariah Carey | 1995

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Song Stories

“Too Close”

Next | 1998

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'" 

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