11. M.I.A.

Maya Arulpragasam hails from London, where she grew up as a refugee from the civil war in Sri Lanka. On Arular, she debuts with her own explosive sound, mixing electro hip-hop, bhangra beats, synth-pop blurps and dancehall toasting, all written on her Roland MC-505 Groovebox. In songs like "Galang" she sounds playful and ominous at the same time, rapping about war and refugee life over music that skips and hops like old-school Sugarhill rap. M.I.A. sprays aural graffiti like a one-woman Bomb Squad, with her chant "London calling, speak the slang now" as a call to arms.

Next: Sleater-Kinney, The Woods