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2. She came to America because of her mixtape, Piracy Funds Terrorism.
Between 2003 and 2005, I sort of met the industry, met Diplo, [and] went to America because of the mixtape. By then I already made an art show, which then went into the music and then made all the artwork, and was making my own website. A lot of it was handmade and self-made.
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4. Jude Law was an early buyer of her art.
After M.I.A. graduated from London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, she didn't immediately jump into music. Instead, she heavily pursued an art career. Her first art show was hosted at Euphoria, a clothing store she worked at during that time. Her art was a hit, but one of the most interesting facts about this show is that Jude Law purchased a few of her pieces. Yes, Jude Law. Crazy.
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6. She never listens to her own records after they're finished.
I never listen to my records. Once I’ve made it then I never listen to it. When you’re making it you listen to it all the time. But when I’ve made it and it’s done and I hand it in, then I don’t listen to it. You listen to it all the time in the car. Whichever car you’re in. You have to listen to it in your headphones, on the laptop, in your mate’s car, in your mum’s car, at the local shopping centre… but once it’s out there then it’s other people’s. It’s not yours.
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8. Her dad yanked her baby teeth out on a bus.
My dad yanked my baby tooth out on a bus. Maybe he was a bit aggressive and it wasn’t ready to come out. They didn’t grow for three years, that’s why they’re massive. They took me to a dentist, but in Sri Lanka they use a grain of rice still in the shell to cut the gum. I would just have to sit there while a woman cut my gums open.
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10. Her sister is a successful jewelry designer.
M.I.A. isn't the only sibling in her family that's done well for herself. Her older sister Kali is a well-known jewelry designer who launched an extremely successful company, Super Fertile. The pieces aren't part of your typical collection; they're intricate wearable pieces of art. Seems that innovative, creative mindset runs in the family.
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12. She got the name M.I.A. while making a film about her missing cousin.
The day I graduated, I heard about Jana [her missing cousin]. There was a story that he'd died. Then somebody said, no, he's alive, but he's a vegetable. Then somebody else said, no, he's just MIA. When someone in Sri Lanka joins the movement, you never know what happens to them. I grew up with him for 10 years; he was like my twin. So the first time I used MIA was when I was looking for him.
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14. She had a very volatile relationship with ex-boyfriend Diplo.
He literally smashed my hotel room and broke all the furniture because he was so angry I got picked up by a major label and it was the corniest thing in the world that could possibly happen...I wish I enjoyed it because I had this person on my shoulder the whole time saying, 'It's shit, it's shit, it's shit. You shouldn't be on the charts. You shouldn't be in the magazines and you should not be going to interviews. You should not be doing collaborations with famous people. You should be an underground artist.'
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16. Her first album is named after her dad, and her second album is after her mom.
I named my first album [Arular] after my dad because I wanted to find him. My second album [Kala] was named after my mom because I felt like I learned all my creative talents from her. All the survival stuff, too.
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18. She allegedly had a very uncomfortable run-in with Oprah.
Back in 2009, TIME magazine included M.I.A. as one of their 100 Most Influential People. At the party for this special issue, M.I.A. met Oprah.
However, their encounter didn't go well:
She didn't talk to me. She shut me down. She took that photo of me, but she was just like, 'I can't talk to you because you're crazy and you're a terrorist.' And I'm like, 'I'm not. I'm a Tamil and there are people dying in my country and you have to like look at it because you're fucking Oprah and every American told me you're going to save the world.'
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20. M.I.A. used to steal from London department stores in her teens.
It was the only thing I could steal. You couldn’t nick it at normal high-street stores because the security was insane. Every teenage person thinks about nicking it at the high-street stores. I would go to the top, top, top store, which is Harvey Nichols, because their security was so lax. I used to just go in there and pretend I was lost, then walk out with Versace jeans. I was the best-dressed poor person in the world.
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