M.I.A. (rapper)
British rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist blending global sounds with electronic production.
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Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, better known as M.I.A.—a name that stands for both "Missing in Action" and "Missing in Acton"—is a British rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. Her sound blends alternative, dance, electronic, hip hop, and world music, often using electronic instruments and samples. She was born in London to Sri Lankan Tamil parents and moved to Jaffna, Sri Lanka, when she was six months old.
The Sri Lankan Civil War forced her family to flee as refugees, returning to London when she was 11; that conflict deeply shaped her art. She began her career in 2000 as a visual artist, filmmaker, and designer, then started recording music in 2002. As one of the first artists to gain notice online, she rose to underground fame in early 2004 with the singles "Sunshowers" and "Galang."
2006–2008: Kala and world recognition
Her first two albums, Arular (2005) and Kala (2007), earned widespread praise for mixing hip hop, electronic, and world music. The latter's single "Paper Planes," co-produced with her then-partner Diplo, reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for Record of the Year at the 51st Grammy Awards. Her third album, Maya (2010), was preceded by the single "Born Free" and a controversial music video/short film; it debuted in the top ten in the US, Finland, Norway, Greece, and Canada.
2020–2025: Mata
The fourth album, Matangi (2013), produced the single "Bad Girls," which won awards at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her fifth album, AIM (2016), saw a drop in both critical and commercial reception. She guested with Young Thug on Travis Scott's 2020 single "Franchise," which hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and released her sixth album, Mata (2022), featuring the single "The One."
Honours, awards and nominations
M.I.A. has won two ASCAP awards and two MTV Video Music Awards. She is the first person of South Asian descent to be nominated for both an Academy Award and a Grammy in the same year.
Rolling Stone named her one of the defining artists of the 2000s, and Time listed her among the 100 most influential people of 2009. Esquire ranked her among the 75 most influential people of the 21st century. Billboard included her in its "Top 50 Dance/Electronic Artists of the 2010s." In the 2019 Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to music.
Background
M.I.A. was born Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam on 18 July 1975 in Hounslow, London. When she was six months old, her family moved to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka, where her brother was born. Her father adopted the name Arular and became a political activist and founding member of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS).
The first 11 years of her life were marked by displacement caused by the Sri Lankan Civil War. Her family went into hiding from the Sri Lankan Army, and she had little contact with her father. She attended Catholic convent schools such as the Holy Family Convent, Jaffna, where she developed her art skills.
Due to safety concerns, her mother moved with the children to Madras, India, where they lived in a derelict house. The family resettled in Jaffna temporarily, only to see the war escalate further. When M.I.A. was nine, her primary school was destroyed in a government raid. A week before her 11th birthday in 1986, she returned with her mother and siblings to London, where they were housed as refugees.
She spent the rest of her childhood and teenage years living on the Phipps Bridge Estate in Mitcham, south London, where she learned to speak English. Her mother became a Christian in 1990 and worked as a seamstress for the Royal Family. M.I.A. attended Ricards Lodge High School in Wimbledon, then Central Saint Martins, graduating with a degree in fine art, film and video in 2000.
Did You Know?
- Her first name, Mathangi, is derived from the Hindu goddess Matangi.
- She was one of only two Asian families on the Phipps Bridge Estate in Mitcham, in an atmosphere she described as 'incredibly racist.'
- M.I.A. gained admission to Central Saint Martins by calling the head of the art department every single day, despite not having formally applied.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: M.I.A. (rapper) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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