A new year and, seemingly, a new start for M.I.A. The 38-year-old artist announced earlier today that she's leaving her management deal with Roc Nation. She made the statement via Twitter. "[I'm] leaving Roc Nation. Thank[s] to everyone who supported the M.I.A #MATANGI LP. Happy New Year," she said. The announcement came after M.I.A. delivered a series of tweets over the course of the last few days that chronicled some type of unusual world time line. She started with the year 1982 and worked her way up to 2013. "[Trying to] hit 2014 tweets by 2014 then I'm gonna tweet once a year," she also said. She currently sits at 2013 tweets, with the most recent being the announcement of leaving Roc Nation.
M.I.A. signed a management deal with Roc Nation in May of 2012. At the time she joined a roster of artists that included Rihanna, J. Cole, Meek Mill, as well as the labels founder, Jay Z. During her 20-month stint M.I.A. released her fourth studio album Matangi to positive reviews. However, her relationship with Roc Nation and her main record label Interscope became fractured this past summer before the release of Matangi. In July an issue emerged regarding her upcoming documentary. According to the director, Steve Loveridge, the labels were making it difficult for him to work on the project. Frustrated, Loveridge leaked a trailer for the documentary which was taken down immediately by Interscope. Loveridge quit soon afterward.
A month later M.I.A. threatened to leak Matangi after Interscope put the project on hold because of its content. "If Interscope takes longer I can always leak this next week and make a new one by the time they are ready," she said. Roc Nation's most recent signee is Grimes, who joined the label through a management deal.
2013 i dlted old tweet to bring u this. im leaving @RocNation . Thank to everyone who supported the M.I.A #MATANGI LP. HAPPY NEW YEAR | 2014
UPDATE 1/2/2014 3:15PM: After announcing her departure from Roc Nation, M.I.A. sent out a tweet requesting the services of young and creative individuals that work in art production, music, merchandising, film, and more. "M.I.A. 4 the people by the people," she said before listing off her fields of interest. This feels similar to Kanye West's public announcement of DONDA in 2012, though M.I.A. hasn't yet revealed what her exact plans are.
MIA 4 the people by the people, looking for young people to work in fields of ART production / MUSIC /MERCH / FILM / WEB / MARKETING SndCV
