M.I.A. exposes Diplo, and Oprah calling her a 'terrorist' (Rolling Stone Interview)

[Michael 533]

'Arular' 10 Years Later: M.I.A. Reflects on Globe-Shaking Debut
How fights with Diplo, an altercation with Oprah and being labeled a terrorist have shaped her past decade

 

M.I.A. spent the early-Aughts as a creative hybrid — a graphic designer, photographer, videographer and hipster fashionista living in London. When her friend Justine Frischmann, the onetime singer of Elastica, loaned her a Roland MC-505, she began writing clever tracks that mashed globally-aware lyrics with gyrating, inimitable dance beats. In 2004, these unpolished demos landed the budding artist born Mathangi Arulpragasam a deal with XL Records, and while recording her debut LP, she met Wesley "Diplo" Pentz, an aspiring DJ-producer with whom she'd go on to have a rocky romantic and professional relationship. Together, they released mashup mixtape Piracy Funds Terrorism, and a year later, she followed it with the groundbreaking Arular. Seemingly overnight, M.I.A. became both an icon of cool and a target for those who didn't approve of her outspoken positions on topics like Sri Lanka's civil war.

On the 10th anniversary of Arular's release, M.I.A. opened up about the making of the record, the optimism of the moment, the painful backlash, her squabbles with Diplo and a severe encounter with Oprah Winfrey.

What do you remember about your life leading up to going into making Arular?
It was like, a lot of things coming together really fast. Because I didn't really try to be a musician all my life. I was just putting one foot in front of the other; just meeting people and finding out things about myself. Half of it was learning about the music and the music industry, because I had no idea about the actual industry.

You were just starting out, basically.
Like, turning demos into real songs. And then, between 2003 and 2005, I sort of met the industry, met Diplo, 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.

Were there any moments where you were like, "Oh, things are getting crazy!" 
XL took notice and gave me a record deal, and that was like the most liberating thing on the planet — to have somebody care that your work is any good, that they would give you a check. And for the first time I was able to like, pay rent — move in to somewhere and pay rent, put a deposit down to buy a computer — because up to that point I used Justine's Roland MC 505. She took the 505 back and I had to buy my own one. That to me was like a massive life-changing thing to be able to afford your own equipment, and you don't owe anything or anything you do to anyone. And to have that independence and freedom was amazing. But by the time I hit America and actually found out the press aspect of it and the success aspect of it and the fact that there's gonna be, you know, tons of people at the shows. . . and I had an encore at Coachella. That had never happened except for like, Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, and it only happened like four times in the history of Coachella. By the time that was happening to me, I was with Diplo and he basically just like shat on every good thing that was happening to me, and I just didn't enjoy it because if I was on a cover of a magazine he'll be like, "What do you want to do, like be on the dentist waiting room table? Like, is that what a magazine is for? It's corny. Like, don't do magazines."
 

So your success started to become a problem?
When I got signed by Interscope, 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. And then Missy Elliott called me for the first time in 2005 to work with me on her record, and I'm sure we had a massive fight about that — the fact that I was talking to anyone who was, like, popular. I wish I enjoyed it because I had this person on my shoulder the whole time saying, "It's ****, it's ****, it's ****. 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."

So the whole two years I was with him, I just let him dictate. I basically had this man dictate to me how everything in America that I experienced was completely, like, irrelevant and it was nothing. So it was kind of a weird time for me. It was only afterwards, when I went into the second record and I went into it without him, I got to enjoy that by myself. But on the end of that I ran into another man, so the window of me actually being alone, single and a female and being empowered and enjoying what I created was very, very small.

Was Diplo's mentality like, "You're selling out"?
Oh, 100 percent. It's only now when I look back at it in 2015, I can see that he was just jealous and he couldn't wait to be Taylor Swift's best friend and date Katy Perry. But at that time I believed him. I just felt like he was right, and he was something of a political, righteous person with some values. I didn't realize it was just jealousy. That actually, the life that I had and the story that I told through my music and the connections I had with people in the music industry and the connections that I made in the streets of London or around the planet and me being the way I am and my personality — that is what made me make that record. It was really stupid for me to put all that hard work in and evolve as a human being for 25 years and then on the 27th year meet this guy and just give him the batch of controlling it. I think that's what happens to women, you know: You fall in love, and **** happens.

Conceptually, Arular seemed to be ahead of its time. Almost prophetic, in a way.
Arular, we're talking about the Tamil situation saying, "Hi, here's the **** that's about to happen. That's why you have to listen to me. I am not a terrorist, but everybody is getting called one. And if George Bush succeeds in calling everyone one, then I would technically be one because I am brown, therefore I am. And if we carry on like that, then this is where that goes. A whole bunch of innocent people are going to get massacred to death on a beach." Fast-forward four years from Arular, that **** happened for real. We had YouTube invented at that time to see it. I made it to CNN. I made it to the Oscars and I told you about it and everybody laughed in my face. If I studied politics it would take me four years and then I will get an apprenticeship job at the House of Commons. I'm not gonna ****ing lobby and **** and stand around. But I'll make a record. Getting Jimmy Iovine, I got more of a shot [laughs]. You know, maybe I go to see Oprah. And I did.

What happened with Oprah? There was a picture of you two together, but then you kinda slammed her.
In 2009, Time nominated me for one of the most influential people of the 21st century or something and I met Oprah at that party. And I was like, "Hey, people are gonna ****ing die in my country. Like, please pay attention." And she was like, "You're **** because you were rude to Lady Gaga and I'm not talking to you. And I'm gonna interview Tom Cruise jumping on my sofa, so **** off."

Did she really react like that? That's crazy.
Yeah, 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 ****ing Oprah and every American told me you're going to save the world."

Full interview, discussing racism/terrorism, how New York is regressing, very interesting read: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/arular-10-years-later-m-i-a-reflects-on-globe-shaking-debut-20150320?page=7

[Diamond Heart 4,400]

Wow i dont know anything about Diplo, but he sounds like a massive **** from whats being described here :O

Edit - And WHAT THE **** about that Oprah thing ? :O 

[Ayo 300]

Im with M.I.A

It just bugs me so bad that M.I.A is not in good terms with gaga, both need a collab ASAP

[lego 44,165]

Wow Oprah 

 

 

 

 

[User 352]

Who splashs poison, get's it back.

[JEWRJEWR 5,663]

oprah a real stan  

[Ladey Gagz 2,512]

Doesn't sound like Oprah

[Cocaine Heart 4,768]

Oprah can't discuss every problem in the world and I'm a quite sure Oprah wouldn't tell her she's **** just because she was rude to Gaga. 

[Spock 20,290]

Oh sh*t she went for Oprah. Watch her disappear soon

[SIRE 75]

Oprah stabbing for the Queen of Pop  

[Higher 2,406]

I'd never think Oprah would call someone a terrorist.  

[RAMROD 109,680]

Wow that was not cool, wish Maya would enjoyed her Arular success but Diplo had ruined it for her, hope Diplo is in better place now.

He betta not treat my CL the same way he did Maya!!  

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

Terrorist Chanteuse

 

"And she was like, "You're **** because you were rude to Lady Gaga and I'm not talking to you. And I'm gonna interview Tom Cruise jumping on my sofa, so **** off."

This sounds so hearsay like, like when you repaint a story with small detail changes to make yourself look good. Idk if thats true or not, I just can't see Oprah saying it  

[Ayo 300]

she's said this about oprah multiple times, I think it does have some truth to it, in 2011 Oprah was a BIG STAN

[flopheart 1,865]

Was MIA really rude to lady gaga? when?