M.I.A. quotes - page 2

I was never really affected by it because I don't have the time to go up to every grime kid and explain the ideology and the lifestyle. It's too hard.... Look at Afrikan Boy, he still has that problem. You have this talent to see something and articulate something new, but you can't because the arena to do that doesn't exist. It's easier to breed movements in England than really support one artist, especially in urban culture. (M.I.A.)
In India, you see the way they embrace color in the culture - it's very celebratory of the existence of color. There's no rule of what color belongs together or doesn't belong together. They're not precious about it. It's very full-on.
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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.
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I feel like people either love me or hate me, which is good, because that was the point of what I do. The point of M.I.A. is to be - it's either to be loved or hated. At least you evoke that much of a strong opinion about music.
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When I first came out, I was a film student, and my mom sewed clothes. I was already doing a million things then, whatever it took to survive. If I had to braid someone's hair to get one pound for my lunch money, that's what I did.
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Before the Greeks were the Tamils. The Tamils are one of the oldest civilizations that's still surviving.
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My uncle was the first brown person to have a market stall on Petticoat Lane in the 1960s. He worked his way up from the street. He was homeless, but eventually he got a car so he could sell from the boot. And by the 1980s, he was a millionaire wholesaling to companies like Topshop. So in a way, fashion put me in England.
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I am the bridge between the East and the West. I don't want to abandon one for the other.
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I bongo with my Lingo, Beat it like a wing yo From Congo to Columbo, Can't sterotype my thing yo.
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Can I get Control? Do you like me Vulnerable? I'm armed and I'm equal More fun for the people...
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I'm more of a realist, than a theorist. (M.I.A.)
OK, let's go and explore the rest of the world, and how easy is it to put together music through found objects and stuff, and people, and ideas and certain electricity, certain environments.
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I haven't heard honesty in music for so long and this is how I feel, and this is what I think. You don't even have to say words ... I was just being as raw as possible. I wanted to make music that you felt in your gut.
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I feel the reason why I'm really like outspoken and stuff is because all of these things were inflicted upon me, and I never went and caused any trouble, you know? I just feel like I was kind of skipping along in some country and somebody decides to drop a bomb and shake up my life and then it's all been survival from then on. And that's the reality for thousands - and millions - of people today. Why should I get censored for talking about a life that half the time I didn't choose to live?
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My approach to politics is that I never said I'm smart. But why aren't I allowed to write about my experience?
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I don't know which is worse. The fact that I saw it in my life has maybe given me lots of issues, but there's a whole generation of American kids seeing violence on their computer screens and then getting shipped off to Afghanistan. They feel like they know the violence when they don't. Not having a proper understanding of violence, especially what it's like on the receiving end of it, just makes you interpret it wrong and makes inflicting violence easier."
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The Third World deserves freedom of speech just like everyone else. We want to fight the battle to say what we want, whether to be serious or just make fun of ourselves. That's what "Worldtown" is about, that's what "Paper Planes" is about. It's what people in the third world live through.
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He asked my mum, 'Why would I devote myself to one woman and three children when I could be helping thousands?' She said: 'If you even have to ask that, you should go.'One of those times, when he came home, he didn't even know what I was called.
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I'm here for the people.
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When I come back to London, I feel really safe and familiar. But sometimes I feel like I'm on standby, waiting to go somewhere else – where something else is happening.
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I can sing about songs with gunshots in the background because I heard them. It's almost like my music has been a way to smoke out the hatred that's been bubbling underneath what's going on in Sri Lanka. If there's 300,000 people who are trapped and they're dying, it should be talked about, it should be brought to the table, and I don't see anything wrong in sticking up for 300,000 dying people. (M.I.A.)
M.I.A.: If he were a pop star, he'd be, like, Prince or something.
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M.I.A.: I'd love to raid his wardrobe.
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M.I.A.: He looks like he always has gel in it. Hold on. [to taxi driver] Can you pull over, please? I'm at Notting Hill Gate station.
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I dont like the idea of spirituality done the way its done. The only way I could understand it was through creativity, not by going to an Ashram, or finding a guru or joining a temple. I made work out of it.
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