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" In New York, everyone's really neurotic and talks about themselves all the time. "
M.I.A.
Really
New
New York
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" Before the Greeks were the Tamils. The Tamils are one of the oldest civilizations that's still surviving. "
M.I.A.
Surviving
Still
Oldest
" When we moved to England in 1986, I was ten years old and I didn't know anything about punk or hip hop. The only words I knew in English were 'dance' and 'Michael Jackson.' We got put in a flat in Mitchum, and the council gave us second hand furniture, second hand clothes and a second hand radio that I took to bed with me every night. "
M.I.A.
Dance
Words
Night
" My giving birth was nothing when I think about all the people in Sri Lanka that have to give birth in a concentration camp. "
M.I.A.
Nothing
Giving
Birth
" Manhattan seems pretty developed, you know what I mean? Like, it has peaked in culture. "
M.I.A.
Know
Pretty
You
" As an artist, you want to play around with mediums and see if you can get the point across in different way. "
M.I.A.
Way
Artist
Want
" It's interesting, because 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. All the survival stuff, too. And then the next album is 'Maya,' which is not my real name. It's fake. "
M.I.A.
Her
Fake
Mom
" The theme of counterfeits, of those that produce and sell them, has always been part of the culture of M.I.A. When I was contacted by Versace, it seemed a great idea to invert the circle. Versace's designs have always been copied; now it's Versace that copies the copies, so those that copy must copy the copies. So this will continue. "
M.I.A.
Copy
Always
Great
" Tamils all over the world have a sense of belonging to the world itself, but our ancient roots come from India. I would like to explore India. I will keep coming back. This is the closest I can get to home. "
M.I.A.
Roots
India
Back
" Matangi's mantra is aim, which is MIA backwards. She fights for freedom of speech and stands for truth, and lives in the ghetto because her dad was the first person in Hindu mythology who came from the 'hood, but had gained enlightenment through not being a Brahmin. "
M.I.A.
Hood
Freedom
Freedom Of Speech
" I don't think immigrants are that threatening to society at all. They're just happy they've survived some war somewhere. "
M.I.A.
Immigrants
Think
Society
" I have no ties to my dad. I had no communications with him; it didn't shape who I am or anything like that. I'm actually a product of my mom. "
M.I.A.
Product
Shape
Him
" I don't like the idea of spirituality done the way it's 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. "
M.I.A.
Way
Done
Creativity
" I remember taking my demo to every dance person in London. People were like, 'We don't know what this is!' The first people to champion me were a club in Manchester. "
M.I.A.
Remember
Me
People
" It's a bit weird, because I don't really know what people expect or think being political is; I just don't get it. What am I supposed to do as a pop star-stroke-revolutionary? Get up and put my balaclava on, go to the grocery store and then invent some Google viruses, and then go to rob a bank to fund my revolution on YouTube? "
M.I.A.
People
Revolution
Political
" Versace designs have always been bootlegged. Now it's Versace bootlegging the bootleg for the bootleggers to bootleg the bootleg. "
M.I.A.
Been
Versace
Always
" Madonna did amazing songs. She had an amazing sense of style, without a stylist. And she was flawed, and sometimes she admitted it. I'll fight the fight for Madonna. I think she should send me some chocolates or something to thank me. "
M.I.A.
Style
Fight
Me
" I don't support terrorism and never have. As a Sri Lankan that fled war and bombings, my music is the voice of the civilian refugee. "
M.I.A.
War
Terrorism
Music
" I don't consider myself a musician. I'm an artist. "
M.I.A.
Artist
Myself
Musician
" In India, you see the way they embrace color in the culture - it's very celebratory of the existence of color. There's no rule of what color belongs together or doesn't belong together. They're not precious about it. It's very full-on. "
M.I.A.
You
Together
Color
" I am the bridge between the East and the West. I don't want to abandon one for the other. "
M.I.A.
Bridge
I Am
West
" I don't understand why people make me want to make music that's a join-the-dots thing by numbers. I find it really difficult when people say, 'Aw, you should have made a really big hip hop record, that would have been really good for you' or, 'You should have made a song like Lily Allen, that would have been so great.' "
M.I.A.
People
Good
Great
" I never pigeonhole myself into any religion, but I feel it has found me. I am trying to make sense of it... the essence of the Mathangi concept. "
M.I.A.
Myself
Religion
Trying
" Sri Lanka is an island off the coast of India. There's two ethnicities there; one the Sinhalese, which is the majority and the government, and the minority, who are the Tamils. That's where I'm from. And my lifetime sort of began there; I spent 10 years, and I was there during when the war started and fled as a refugee to England. "
M.I.A.
Two
Government
India
" Me, it was always about being able to bounce around to where I wanna be. Like, with 'Arular,' people always say it's so political, but I think 50 per cent of the album is not very political at all. It's just really a shouty, shouty girl thing. "
M.I.A.
Political
Think
Girl
" 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.
Uniform
Design
Want
" Human beings around the world have to be taught to go, 'Tamil equals Tamil civilians first, and the Tamil Tiger is a separate thing.' And both of those groups are different. It's like a square and a circle. "
M.I.A.
Like
Go
World
" The first 10 years of my life, I lived as 'Matangi.' 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. My auntie came from Europe to visit us, and she was like, 'Just call yourself something else.' "
M.I.A.
Me
Life
My Life
" I feel like a mirror reflecting back everyone's perception of me. "
M.I.A.
Feel
Me
Mirror
" 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. "
M.I.A.
Mom
Lunch
Hair
" In my head, I actually think my songs are pop songs. I think, 'Damn, that's a pop song!' I can practice in front of the mirror with my hairbrush for as long as I want to. But when it finally comes out, it sounds avant-garde to people. "
M.I.A.
Think
Practice
Song