BEST
6. M.I.A.
Kala (XL/Interscope)
If crowds make you anxious, skip the second CD by electro-rapper M.I.A. For starters, Kala was recorded in an array of locales — like India, Jamaica, Australia, Sri Lanka, and her current home, England — and you'd swear those populations were in the studio with her. That's due partly to the aboriginal chanting and partly to her declarations about a Third World teeming with repression and possibility. Meanwhile, there's universality enough in cheeky feminist verses like ''Streets are makin' 'em hard so they selfish little roamers/Jumping girl to girl, make us meat like burgers/When I get fat I'm gon pop me out some leaders.'' With a jumble of hip-hop, synths, and Bollywood samples, Kala can be overwhelming — but it's a crowded house so full of life, you'll want to squeeze into it.