6 Quotes & Sayings By Mia

M.I.A. or Maya Arulpragasam is an English singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, dancer, and actor. Born in London to Tamil parents she was brought up in the city of Arwad in Sri Lanka before moving to England in 1987. She began her career performing in various alternative venues in the late 1990s and early 2000s Read more

Her music is characterised by her use of Tamil sounds and cultural references with British hip hop elements.

1
At first, I found the music I was making really hard to find a home for. I felt like my attitude was really British, but not the actual sounds I was making. Back in 2003, when I made 'Galang, ' there were no clubs that had an 'anything and everything' attitude. M.I.A.
2
Basically, when I went to school in Sri Lanka from age five onward, the classes there were sometimes sorted into a hierarchy of your skin tone. So the fairer-skinned kids sat at the front row, and the darker-skinned kids sat at the back by the poor ones who played out in the street all day long. M.I.A.
3
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. M.I.A.
4
Nike is the uniform for kids all over the world, and African design has been killed by Nike. Africans no longer want to wear their own designs. M.I.A.
5
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. M.I.A.