Music News: M.I.A announces her retirement

Sat, Jun 14, 2008

M.I.A’s last gig ever! This has come as a shock to many when she made her announcement at the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee.

This is my last show,” the rapper M.I.A. announced from the stage of That Tent, “and I’m glad I’m spending it with all my hippies.” If, as she announced at least three times, it was M.I.A.’s last gig ever, she went out with a boom.

She brought “girls” and then “boys” onstage, surrounding herself with happy dancers, and brought the Nigerian rapper African Boy onstage for her encores, rapping about how immigrants have to hustle. For her finale, “Paper Planes,” the audience that spilled far outside the tent pumped fists happily at the gunshot sounds that are also one of the song’s hooks. “Thanks for coming to my last gig,” she said, amid noise that continued well after she was gone.

This has come as a big shock to her fans with comments flowing through on her myspace site