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Last Updated:
Apr 29th, 2008 - 12:22:03 |
M.I.A.
World Class
I had 15 minutes on the phone with M.I.A. and I turned it into 50. There were tons of questions and notes jotted down in front of me. We talked about people, places and things. The world doesn’t revolve around Maya Arulpragasam, but her music captures the globe.
What are you wearing right now?
I’m wearing this dress by this designer called Neon in Brazil and I’m wearing a pair of shoes — Converse.
Where are you?
In my apartment in New York.
How is it living in Bed-Stuy, the home of the Notorious B.I.G.?
Uh-huh and Jay-Z and Lil’ Kim. But I don’t see them around though.
They haven’t come to pay you a visit?
No, I think Lil’ Kim is still in jail and Biggie’s dead and Jay-Z’s just busy.
When you walk out of your apartment, what do you see?
There is a mosque … I live on top of a nightclub, next to an abortion clinic and the other corner is a hair and nail place and another corner is a 99-cent store.
How does Bed-Stuy compare to Third World countries?
I think it’s interesting because, like, I got involved last week in Bed-Stuy because the NYPD beat the shit out of some kid outside of my window and I filmed it and put it on YouTube. Then, like an hour later, the cops came by and wanted my tape and I had to lie to them and say I didn’t have the tape. A lot of people were in Bed-Stuy complaining that this happens every single day so I gave the tape to whoever the community leader was and let them deal with it. I see a lot of similarities. Right down the street there’s this huge building — its looks like a fort or castle. I can't even explain to you how big the building is; it looks like a prison and it has gates all over the windows, and I think it’s a halfway house, and there’s always crack heads and bums hangin’ outside, and you just see everybody dressed coming from that whole hip-hop thing like ten, 20 years ago. I feel like I’ve seen how hip-hop hasn’t helped the community.
Why do you choose to live there?
I really feel like the time when I moved in, no one gave a shit about me and no one knew who I was and I could start from scratch. It’s almost like building your life from basic necessities, the things I do around here is simple shit — I need a light bulb and a pair of socks and to buy milk from the store, there’s nothing scientific. But sometimes I do wish there was places to eat food, but it’s also good to see, you come to this neighborhood and you see how certain information doesn’t filter down to the hood, you don’t even have the variety of foods or basic shit. There’s no garden, it’s just concrete; there’s nowhere for kids to play, it’s weird. I don’t understand how they built an environment like this, ya know, like given the fact that New York City has money.
I jotted down some notes earlier and one thing was “global musician,” so I’m wondering, what does your passport look like?
You know, my passport’s weird, I got about four.
Of all the places you’ve been, where was the most fun?
I’m thinking ... the point is ... it depends. Like going to Brazil is fun, it’s good to go to places where they have a new thing starting up and growing. When I put my first album out and was traveling to all these places and getting introduced to that scene, “these are the kids and this what they’re listening to and wearing,” and they’re wearing your shoes. It was pretty much some weird global community that was coming up. The kids in San Paolo were exactly the same as the kids in Sweden, they just talked differently, but they dressed the same, listened to the same music and went to the same club. It was just people going, “We don’t give a shit ... everything goes.”
Many people, even the rapper Nas, say you’re the future of music …
Well, the NME did the Future 50 list and picked me number two. The way they put it was it has to be really local for it to work, but I was the first alternative musician that incorporated the whole world. I think this is a do-it-yourself kind of thing and I wasn’t thinking anything more about it — it’s just about learning to live with nothing. That was the only aspect where I started off — as a creative person you can make your own shit so you don’t have to depend on other people.
And you’re becoming really popular by sticking to that mentality.
If I’m really popular and people are like, “We don’t know what she’s saying,” and I think I’ve given all my possible messages in interviews when I first came out, 'cuz I was like, “This is really pathetic, what’s going in Iraq and blah blah blah and terrorism this and terrorism that,” and now we’ve seen the aftermath of what that is, you tell me if they’re right. I didn’t say I was gonna preach or lead, it was like here’s a debate, everyone in the fucking world should be having this. I think my work influences creative people, artists and other musicians; it hits them before it hits anyone else.
Are you paying any mind to the presidential race?
I pay a slight attention to it, but I try not to get into the nitty gritty of it because I do feel like it’s a question of choosing the best out of a bad bunch. Basically, it's like tobacco companies and Hilary represents Marlboro Menthol and Obama is Camel and the Republicans are American Spirit and you have to choose which cigarette you want to smoke — but you’re still smoking.
You’ve said it’s hard being a woman in music, is it becoming easier or harder?
Um, I don’t know … in one way I feel like, fuck, I don’t wanna make music because … I just don't know! I think if you’re a life experience artist, you have to live and evolve before you can say shit and I want to be someone that lives by example. I want to live a balanced life and I don’t wanna be like, “Here’s how to be a freakin’ mogul,” which is what most musicians coming out of hip-hop have shown us. It has to be more than that. Being a woman and what that really, really means and how you have to evolve, you have to do that. But it’s impossible to do that being so "out there" and not being rooted to something.
When you see Britney Spears, what do you think?
Thank God that’s not me. Well, the truth is, if you’re a slave to fame and superficial stuff, that’s the price you have to pay. Once you go down that route … it’s that sort of a quick fuck thing, isn’t it? It’s really important to have priorities, convictions and a set of values, and you have to stick to them. I think you can question values in the process of being an artist and making work, but you need to have a set of values to stick to or you'd go crazy.
You’ve spoken out about capitalism and I’m guessing you’re seeing the most cash you ever had in your life, so how is your relationship with money these days?
Ha, that’s really funny, um, damn. If this happened like ten years ago I’d be a lot richer. Nobody buys my records — all my fans are smart, they download it and I like that. I think I’ll always have issues about money, I feel a bit embarrassed about it. My family don’t know what the hell it is, they don’t have opinions on it, they never taught me how to make it, how to keep it. With the money that I make, I help my mom and just sustain myself. The future is not to have so much money, that’s what you have to teach people. It’s important for me to be happy with whatever I got because the important thing is to be happy with nothing because most people on the planet don’t have it.
Back at home, are people aware of you and your music?
I don’t think much, because in 2006, Sri Lanka was just getting into the concept of text messages and that was changing the nature of the war. The kids in the jungle would text their mates in the cities and they would discover music and clubs and it’s harder for people to recruit kids for wars and I thought that was really interesting. But I think my music touches sore subjects. You’ve got to have the open-minded people in the city that will take it up and filter it through. But I think radio stations look at my music and say no because I have pictures of a tiger running on my back screen, and I’m thinking everyone else on the planet can wear camouflage and nobody says anything, but if I put my face next to an image of a tiger, it’s something really horrific and crazy. That’s really why I did it, because I was making art at the time and I could have pictures of something really disgusting out of the newspapers everyday, but if you put a singer next to a tiger, it’s a really scary thing given where I come from.
It reminds me of all the controversy with Nas’ new album being called Nigger, which, as a word, might not mean anything in other cultures …
Yeah, it’s true. It’s mad and people are really sensitive to that. When I first came out, people were blogging about the tiger on my screen and you wouldn’t go to any other concert and complain about that, but the beauty of having an animal that comes from my country is not open to me.
Your songs don’t seem to be about you personally, but about your views and how you see the world.
Yeah, you got a problem with that?
Well, it depends, because someone just talking about themselves can be boring, but sometimes you can see yourself in other people.
I know, but the thing is I think coming from Sri Lanka you were always taught to think about community, we think about "we" and not "me." That’s the mentality and I could never shake it.
I think you’re like the new Madonna in a way, the youth culture is gravitating towards you spiritually and aesthetically and picking up on your messages, but you don’t use sex like she did; yet you’re still very sexy …
It’s because I’m Sri Lankan. [Laughs]. And there’s so much of it out there that there’s no need for a girl to come out in a bikini and go buy a fake tan. I want to be dignified. | RDW
M.I.A. • 5/8 • The Fillmore
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