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M.I.A.

M.I.A. Quotes

Artist

M.I.A., born Mathangi Arulpragasam, is a British-born Sri Lankan artist known for her unique musical style and strong political consciousness. She blends various musical elements, including hip-hop, electronic, reggae, and world music, creating a distinctive personal sound. M.I.A.'s music often addresses social and political issues, and her music and image are highly controversial.

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All People Thinking Ifs Art Feels Culture Persons Want World Creative

Famous M.I.A. Quotes

“Confidence takes constant nurturing, like a bed, it must be remade every day.”

Bed Constant Nurturing

Author:M.I.A.

“Rage and grief are savage companions, but despair is the final undoing.”

Grief Despair Finals Rage Companion Savages Undoing

Author:M.I.A.

“I feel like a mirror reflecting back everyones perception of me.”

Feels Perception Mirrors Reflecting Reflecting Back

Author:M.I.A.

“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.”

World Want Has Beens Kids Design Uniforms Nike

Author:M.I.A.

“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.”

Way Firsts Persons Company Streets Fashion Car England Sells Brown Boots Homeless Uncles 1960s Millionaire Lanes Topshop

Author:M.I.A.

“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.”

Way Made Ideas Done Spirituality Creativity Findings Work Out Temples Guru Joining

Author:M.I.A.

“I dont support terrorism and never have. As a Sri Lankan that fled war and bombings, my music is the voice of the civilian refugee.”

War Voice Support Music Is Terrorism Refugee Civilians Bombing

Author:M.I.A.

“Before the Greeks were the Tamils. The Tamils are one of the oldest civilizations thats still surviving.”

Stills Civilization Greek Surviving

Author:M.I.A.

“You have to constantly redefine who you are.”

Author:M.I.A.

“Just make music; don't talk about politics.”

Author:M.I.A.

“That's what's inspiring to me - finding someplace where people haven't already seen themselves in a certain light.”

People Light Certain Havens Findings

Author:M.I.A.

“That's what New York is like - you can't have real art happen in an institution because rich people can make the world stop. The stuff on the street is a lot more interesting.”

People World Art Real Happens Stuff Interesting Rich Streets New York Like You Institutions Rich People

Author:M.I.A.

“What really drives me mad about art is that, in America, the only thing you can do is to take it apart.”

Art America Can Do Art Is Mad

Author:M.I.A.

“That's what I miss, being a real human.”

Humans Real Missing Real Human

Author:M.I.A.

“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 . . ."”

People Looks Felt Responsibility Situation Careers Bunch Refugee Representing Blah

Author:M.I.A.

“You can't turn up at college in stilettos and say you're gonna be a filmmaker. In the college, they were teaching me avant-garde filmmaking, where I had to make films that were, like, an hour long about nothing. I just refused to do it.”

Long Film Turns Hours Teaching College Filmmaker Filmmaking Avant Garde Stilettos

Author:M.I.A.

“It could be the sort of declining grip of the American MTV-nation culture-the fact that MTV doesn't play so much music anymore.”

Play Facts Culture Nations Mtv

Author:M.I.A.

“I felt pissed off because I realized that you have to teach people in a clichéd way how to be happy-and happiness has become too one thing in American media. Achieving happiness is not really about having a flat stomach and the best car.”

People Way Felt Teach One Thing Achieve Media Car I Realized Flats Stomach Pissed Off How To Be Happy Achieving Happiness American Media

Author:M.I.A.

“I feel like I'm living in the dead weeds of hip-hop. I live in the graveyard of what went wrong with hip-hop.”

Feels Hip Hop Hips Hops Weed Graveyard

Author:M.I.A.

“What's wrong with hip-hop [is that] it became so one-dimensional; it became like a businessman thing. It's run out of creativity. It went so far off about making money that now everyone can do it.”

Running Can Do Creativity Hip Hop Hips Making Money Hops Businessman

Author:M.I.A.

“I don't really see a difference in independent and major labels. To me, it's pretty much the same. There used to be a difference between indies and major labels, but I don't think there is anymore.”

Thinking Used Differences Majors Independent Used To Be Labels

Author:M.I.A.

“There's a bit of hope that a song can be about anything. If you want to write a song about anything, you can, and you don't have to put it through the process of having it be trendy or cool or generic pop or these types.”

Ifs Want Writing Song Bits Process Type Pops Generic Trendy

Author:M.I.A.

“I think when something becomes a comfortable genre, it's against what street art stood for in the beginning - breaking out of genres and taking art out of galleries. Now street art is in the gallery, and it's all made up into a nice, packaged concept.”

Thinking Art Made Nice Streets Comfortable Art Is Concepts Genre Gallery Street Art

Author:M.I.A.

“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.”

People Art Bits Interesting Creativity Months Comfortable Art Is Concepts Supposed To Be Annoying Diverse Darling

Author:M.I.A.

“I think people were genuinely addicted to hip hop in the 90s, addicted to the idea of empowerment. I think it came from [the fact that] the rappers in the 90s, their parents coming from the 70s, had such a rich variety of records to sample.”

People Thinking Ideas Facts Parent Rich Records Empowerment Hip Hop Variety Hips Hops Rapper Sample

Author:M.I.A.

“Music that was made in the 60s and 70s did come from a really soulful place. The seed for the songs written in the 90s were planted in those songs, even though they were samples.”

Made Song Written Seeds Sample Soulful

Author:M.I.A.

“Businessmen in society are not going to be the ones that promote anything outside of money.”

Author:M.I.A.

“There has been an effect of business rap on the output of today's rap music. But I don't think that's the modern day rapper's fault.”

Thinking Has Beens Today Modern Effects Faults Rap Rapper Output Modern Day Rap Music

Author:M.I.A.

“The consequence of making it a business thing and making an artist the same as a Wall Street trader is that you do get a robot by the end of it. It becomes more robotic as opposed to being more soulful.”

Ends Artist Streets Wall Consequence Robots Robotics Traders Soulful

Author:M.I.A.

“If you narrow the playing field, the next generation has less to put out, to eat and regenerate from.”

Ifs Next Generations Fields Next Generation Playing Fields

Author:M.I.A.

“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.”

Late Concepts Rapper Businessman Beacons Best Rapper

Author:M.I.A.

“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. But I did it in the most creative way possible.”

Ifs Way Firsts Film Millions Creative Students Hair Mom Clothes My Mom Pounds Lunch Braids Film Students

Author:M.I.A.

“I never pigeonholed myself - the only reason you'd want to pigeonhole is to monetize your business and, as a person, I don't see the importance of doing that. My music took off above the rest of those things: You can just make a song, put it on a CD, and get it out to all these people.”

People Want Persons Reason Song Importance Cds

Author:M.I.A.

“I hate the idea of street art. With music, I just needed my brain and my voice, which didn't cost anything.”

Art Ideas Hate Voice Brain Streets Needed Cost I Hate Street Art

Author:M.I.A.

“I'm still working out my opinions - it's always a question mark. I leave loads of space open, and people don't like that.”

People Stills Space Opinion Mark Work Out Load Question Mark

Author:M.I.A.

“My statements aren't incomplete, they're just in-progress. It's a debate and a discussion.”

Progress Debate Statements Discussion Incomplete

Author:M.I.A.

“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.”

Firsts Hands School Names Answers Week Terrible England Hands Up Choose Me

Author:M.I.A.

“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.”

Firsts Wanted Felt Creative Talent Mom Dad My Dad Albums My Mom

Author:M.I.A.

“I've documented a lot of things myself as a filmmaker. If you want a rockumentary, that's in there.”

Ifs Want Filmmaker

Author:M.I.A.

“Everyone has that moment where they just rebel.”

Moments That Moment Rebel

Author:M.I.A.

“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.”

Years Talking Industry Years Ago Inspired Goddess Music Industry

Author:M.I.A.

“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.”

People Feels Kids House Terrible London Forty

Author:M.I.A.

“That divide between the rich and poor is so crazy, because even white kids are suffering now.”

Kids Suffering White Poor Rich Crazy Divides Rich And Poor

Author:M.I.A.

“I'm not sticking up for white kids - I'm going to have a barrage of hate mail - but it's true. If you're poor, you're really poor.”

Ifs Kids Hate White Poor Mail Hate Mail

Author:M.I.A.

“Even if you're frustrated, how do you express yourself? There's no subculture like back in the day.”

Ifs Frustrated Express Yourself Back In The Day Subculture

Author:M.I.A.

“Across the world, on your phone, everybody gets the same list of things to read, listen to, and watch.”

World Watches Phones Lists

Author:M.I.A.

“With homogenized culture, even if you feel frustrated, you'd have to write a Taylor Swift song to get heard.”

Ifs Feels Writing Song Culture Heard Frustrated

Author:M.I.A.

“In England right now you're not good enough until you get validated.”

Enough Right Now England Good Enough Not Good Enough

Author:M.I.A.

“Now, [hip-hop/grime artists] Stormzy, Skepta, or the Section Boyz have to be validated by Drake, Rihanna or Beyoncé. They're rolled into this one urban culture bubble; it's not really to do with, "I'm specifically f - ked off about my country and what's going on in my town." We're very much only showing success to artists who impress American artists, and I'm one of them.”

Country Artist Culture Towns Hip Hop Hips Hops Bubbles Urban Impress Sections Grime Keds

Author:M.I.A.

“Nowadays, [young musicians] are so quick to be like, "OK, fine, I'll take the cheque, or I'll get the stamp from XYZ, and I'm expanding my brand," rather than thinking, "I'm part of this space over here, and in order for it to grow, you can't have it assimilated by this bigger bubble or corporate brand."”

Thinking Young Order Grows Space Fine Musician Bigger Brands Corporate Bubbles Stamps Expanding Cheques

Author:M.I.A.

About the Author

Born: July 18, 1975
Known for: Artist
Quotes: 88

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