M.I.A.酷极了，且不说她的音乐有多么让人兴奋，单单就在分娩期当天参加“格莱美”现场演出就让人拍案叫绝。当在Jay-Z、Kanye West、Lil Wayne 和T.I.四位美国当红歌手的簇拥下出现在2009年“格莱美”的演出现场时，挺着大肚子的M.I.A.是当晚最有面子的一位。能让美国四大当家说唱歌手甘当绿叶，M.I.A.的实力可见一斑，M.I.A.是位怪才，除了音乐她在设计上也颇有见地，出专辑从写歌到录制，再到封面设计完全由她一人完成。M.I.A.音乐个人色彩浓烈，前两张专辑《Arular》和《Kala》分别以父母亲的名字命名，在成名前她更是长期活动于地下，M.I.A.在主流上取得成功开始于第二张专辑《Kala》，其中最出名的当数《Paper Planes》，这首歌曲为她赢得了两项“格莱美”提名，同时还被收录进了入围今年奥斯卡的电影《贫民窟的百万富翁》的原声专辑。值得一提的是这个原名叫Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam的女歌手是斯里兰卡激进组织领袖的女儿，因此她的很多歌曲都与政治有关，从她今年“格莱美”的提名单曲《Paper Planes》就能了解一二。
If you read a lot about new music on the Web, odds are pretty good that, at some point between the September 2004 release of "Galang" and the March 2005 release of Arular, you were struck with the urge to turn your computer off or maybe even heave it out of a nearby window. If you don't read a lot about new music on the Web, the preceding sentence indicates how bewildering and draining the chatter about M.I.A. became. Arular, M.I.A.'s first album, leaked well before its official release, allowing journalists and downloaders plenty of time to dissect it and bat ideas back and forth -- taking in the sounds, words, and absolutely all of the context -- before average music fans were able to develop their own opinions.
Maya Arulpragasam spent the early years of her life in a number of places. She moved from London, England, to her parents' native Sri Lanka at the age of six months, only to relocate to Madras, India. During a return stay in Sri Lanka, the civil war taking place within the country escalated to the point where Arulpragasam began to lose family members and friends. She didn't see her father -- a devout and active separatist as part of the Tamil rebellion, which has clashed with the Sinhalese majority -- often throughout these years, but her life stabilized once she and the rest of her family were able to make it back to London.
As a student, Arulpragasam became involved in the arts and published a monogram book of her paintings -- titled M.I.A. and heavily influenced by the Tamil rebellion. She later connected with Elastica, providing the photography and graphics for the group's second album, and she shot footage during their American tour. Elastica's support act, Peaches, introduced her to the Roland MC-505, a sequencer she became familiar with after returning home. Steve Mackey (Pulp) and Ross Orton became involved after hearing a demo; they made adjustments to "Galang," a song that was then pressed into 500 copies and released, under the name M.I.A., by the Showbiz label. It didn't take long for the song -- a bold, righteous amalgamation of hip-hop, electro, dancehall, grime, and baile funk -- to make an impact with DJs. She wound up signing a contract with XL, which re-released the single and, eventually, debut album Arular in 2005. Anticipation for the release was considerable, only heightened by the Piracy Funds Terrorism mixtape she put together with DJ Diplo. Her second album, Kala, was released in 2007 and was recorded while spending time in numerous countries. M.I.A. produced most of its tracks with Switch; Blaqstarr, Diplo, and Timbaland also contributed.