Quote

The music industry was invented, like, 100 years ago. I'm talking about the goddess Matangi, who invented music 5,000 years ago. She was the only thing that inspired me.

M.I.A.

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

M.I.A.
Age: 49
Born: 1975
Born: July 18
Activist
Actor
Composer
Fashion Designer
Model
Music Video Director
Musician
Painter
Photographer
Rapper
Record Producer
Singer-Songwriter
Ventura County
California
Mathangi Arulpragasam
Maya Arulpragasam
Years
Like
Goddess
Invented
Inspired
Industry
Talking
Music
Thing

More quotes by M.I.A.

Image
Besides, isn't it more exciting when you don't have permission?
M.I.A.
Image
If music's a political place, I'm out.
M.I.A.
Image
In England right now you're not good enough until you get validated.
M.I.A.
Image
I feel so terrible for the kids now. In London, even people in their forties can't afford to buy a house or have kids.
M.I.A.
Image
Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullshit in order to be comfortable?
M.I.A.
Image
When mayors get together they probably have better conversations and have better notes to share about running different cities, and just do what suits. Basically, like when you combine all the religions and take the best bits, you should be able to combine all the cities and take the best bits, the information, the tried and tested things.
M.I.A.
Image
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.
Image
Art is supposed to be about creativity. But the same people are the same art darlings every month, and it's a bit annoying. It's supposed to be diverse and interesting and conceptual and have weird concepts in a comfortable place.
M.I.A.
Image
If you're talking about coexisting and tolerance then you have to live by example, and you can't have shiny people all the time everywhere, which is what breeds that sort of thinking - this is better than this, that is better than that.
M.I.A.
Image
That's what I miss, being a real human.
M.I.A.
Image
What really drives me mad about art is that, in America, the only thing you can do is to take it apart.
M.I.A.
Image
In the beginning [of my career] I definitely felt a responsibility because I was representing a bunch of people [Sri lankans] who never got represented before. I felt this responsibility to correct that situation, to be like, Look, you can't discriminate against refugees and Muslim people and blah, blah, blah . . .
M.I.A.
Image
With homogenized culture, even if you feel frustrated, you'd have to write a Taylor Swift song to get heard.
M.I.A.
Image
If it's just politics that's running music, f - k that. I'm out of here! I can't think of anything more boring.
M.I.A.
Image
Creativity needs time to harness before it goes out, and because that's difficult, memes have become the creative language.
M.I.A.
Image
Instead of going to war, we should put the money into arts and culture and let creative people define what Britain is.
M.I.A.
Image
By the time it came to the 90s, the late 90s, being a businessman was the beacon to uphold. We've been having the concept of the best rapper equals the best businessman.
M.I.A.
Image
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.
M.I.A.
Image
Somebody told me that if you wake up every day and do stuff that's easy, then you're doing the wrong thing. If you wake up every day and do stuff that's really hard and you manage to get through to people, then you're doing the right thing. They might have just fooled me by telling me that, but it worked. I think that's my philosophy.
M.I.A.
Image
I fly like paper, get high like planes If you catch me at the border, I got visas in my name
M.I.A.