'Paper Planes,' by M.I.A.

Doesn't 'Pineapple Express' sound like a cute little kids' movie about Koko the talking tropical fruit, who feels like an outcast among all his popular apple, pear and raspberry friends? Well, that couldn't be further from the truth. Sony Pictures chose 'Paper Planes,' M.I.A.'s highly aggressive track to support the cutesy titled film trailer, but a song built around gunshots most definitely does not complement a kiddie flick.

This comedy, starring Seth Rogan and James Franco, centers around Dale (Rogen) who witnesses a murder while he's toking up. In a panic, he drops his Pineapple Express marijuana before leaving the scene. His drug dealer, Saul (Franco), informs him that this strain of ganga is so rare that it could in fact be traced back to Saul. The duo take off, running for their lives while a dirty cop and the city's most dangerous druglord are hot on their trail.

"This is my last show, and I'm glad I'm spending it with all my hippies."--M.I.A.

That's all, folks. According to sources, the too-hip Sri Lankan rapper reiterated her plans to quit her tour three times during her set at Bonnaroo.

Emmanuel Jal, like many assessing contemporary hip-hop, believes most of the posturing, boasting and tales of urban warfare in the genre are exaggerated.

"Yeah, everything you see," he says. "That's why it's commercial music. Everything is not real."

So what about the portrayal of strife, bloodshed and horrors in his own hip-hop? It's all-too-real. Much of his new album, 'Warchild,' draws on his own experiences not on an urban battlefront but in actual combat in his home nation of Sudan. Taken from his small village and pressed into service with a rebel army in the late '80s when he was just six or seven (he thinks he was born in 1980 but isn't certain), he spent several years as a child soldier -- one of a generation of Sudanese "Lost Boys" -- in two bloody civil wars, witnessing unspeakable horrors, atrocities and inhumanities before being rescued by a British aid worker. In the songs here he raps of the awful deeds, tortured existence and still-fresh psychic scars of his war experiences ('Forced to Sin'), the economic rape of his homeland ('Vagina'), the ongoing battle with his own understandably accumulated demons ('Bakki Wara'), his struggle to overcome them with his Christian faith ('Shadow of Death') and delivers an emotional tribute to Emma McCune, the woman who rescued him and moved him to Nairobi but died in a car accident not long after ('Emma').

Artist: M.I.A.
Video: 'Paper Planes'
Highlight: The British MC wheeling and dealing in streets on New York.

'Boyz,' by M.I.A.

Monkey see, monkey do: That's pretty much sums up the superpower for one of the newest characters in NBC's prime-time hit 'Heroes' -- Monica is a muscle mimicker. If you suddenly had the ability to imitate any movement in the world, would you pick a normal playground activity? Probably not. But she did! So how do you amp up a scene that has the potential to flop? You compliment it with a song. The producers at 'Heroes' chose M.I.A.'s 'Boyz' to enhance Monica's jumping-rope scene on the playground. She never knew how to double dutch, but all she has to do is watch a few girls jump up and down ... and suddenly she's a master.

Two rappers enter. One rapper leaves. 50 Cent accepts Kanye West's debate challenge. [A Socialite's Life]

Tom Cruise learns how to use proper English words like "chaps" and "blimey" from new BFF Posh Spice. [DListed]

Is M.I.A. worth the hype? BWE says, "Oh hell nah." [Best Week Ever]

Lance Bass blogs about gay marriage. [Perez]

Gwen Stefani's son Kingston has bitten her "a few times." [IDLYITW]

Britney Spears hits a parked car, calls herself a "brainiac." Indeed. [PopEater]

Artist: M.I.A.
Video: 'Boyz'
Highlight: The return of M.I.A.'s vintage dance moves.

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