M.I.A.
M.I.A.
dad mom shape ties
I have no ties to my dad. I had no communications with him; it didn't shape who I am or anything like that. I'm actually a product of my mom.
came dad fights freedom gained ghetto hindu lives mantra mythology speech stands truth
Matangi's mantra is aim, which is MIA backwards. She fights for freedom of speech and stands for truth, and lives in the ghetto because her dad was the first person in Hindu mythology who came from the 'hood, but had gained enlightenment through not being a Brahmin.
alone clever cleverest dad grew landed mud science slept studied studying super
My dad grew up in a mud hut and studied by candlelight. He was 14 when he got a scholarship to Russia. He was super clever - the cleverest person. He landed in 5ft of snow, and was alone at 14, studying science and engineering. He didn't have a bed, and he slept on a table.
album creative dad felt learned mom named next second survival talents
It's interesting, because I named my first album after my dad because I wanted to find him. My second album was named after my mom because I felt like I learned all my creative talents I learned from her. All the survival stuff, too. And then the next album is 'Maya,' which is not my real name. It's fake.
hand life mike onstage pushed recorded songs three time worst
In 2004, I went onstage for the first time. They put a mike in my hand and pushed me out the door into the crowd. I did the three songs I had recorded and got out. It was the worst day of my life.
music
It is a coincidence that Mathangi is the Goddess of Music and the spoken word, which can be rap.
Before the Greeks were the Tamils. The Tamils are one of the oldest civilizations that's still surviving.
talks time
In New York, everyone's really neurotic and talks about themselves all the time.
I was shot at for being a Tamil in Sri Lanka, and then, everyone was calling me a Paki in London, and I'm not even Pakistani.
immigrants society survived war
I don't think immigrants are that threatening to society at all. They're just happy they've survived some war somewhere.
answer call came england europe hand life lived school terrible visit
The first 10 years of my life, I lived as 'Matangi.' When I came to England in '86, my first week of school was terrible because I would put my hand up to answer things, and no one would choose me because they couldn't say my name. My auntie came from Europe to visit us, and she was like, 'Just call yourself something else.'
fights took
'Paper Planes' was an accident. It wasn't a song we made for the masses. It took two years to get popular, and there were many fights about censoring the gunshot sounds.
began coast government island lifetime majority sort spent war
Sri Lanka is an island off the coast of India. There's two ethnicities there; one the Sinhalese, which is the majority and the government, and the minority, who are the Tamils. That's where I'm from. And my lifetime sort of began there; I spent 10 years, and I was there during when the war started and fled as a refugee to England.
constantly redefine
You have to constantly redefine who you are.