M.I.A

I already feel that I am making a political statement by sticking around in music, when I am doing it so differently…

— M.I.A

Before the Greeks were the Tamils. The Tamils are one of the oldest civilizations that's still surviving.

— M.I.A

My statements aren't incomplete, they're just in-progress. It's a debate and a discussion.

— M.I.A

Across the world, on your phone, everybody gets the same list of things to read, listen to, and watch.

— M.I.A

If it's just politics that's running music, f - k that. I'm out of here! I can't think of anything more boring.

— M.I.A

I fly like paper, get high like planes If you catch me at the border, I got visas in my name

— M.I.A

Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullshit in order to be comfortable?

— M.I.A

I am the bridge between the East and the West. I don't want to abandon one for the other.

— M.I.A

I come from a generation where you put the art out and had the luxury to sit back and watch the world…

— M.I.A

I wanted to represent a different decade, and I wanted someone who goes back further than me. I go back the furthest…

— M.I.A

Music that was made in the 60s and 70s did come from a really soulful place. The seed for the songs written…

— M.I.A

The music industry was invented, like, 100 years ago. I'm talking about the goddess Matangi, who invented music 5,000 years ago. She…

— M.I.A

You have to have your fashion stylist person not sell out and sell your s - t to another pop star because…

— M.I.A

I don't really see a difference in independent and major labels. To me, it's pretty much the same. There used to be…

— M.I.A

There's a bit of hope that a song can be about anything. If you want to write a song about anything, you…

— M.I.A

The consequence of making it a business thing and making an artist the same as a Wall Street trader is that you…

— M.I.A

In the beginning [of my career] I definitely felt a responsibility because I was representing a bunch of people [Sri lankans] who…

— M.I.A

I'm just so grateful for the 10 years that I had in Sri Lanka when it was in the middle of a…

— M.I.A

I don't like the idea of spirituality done the way it's done. The only way I could understand it was through creativity,…

— M.I.A

I named my first album after my dad because I wanted to find him. My second album was named after my mom…

— M.I.A

That's what New York is like - you can't have real art happen in an institution because rich people can make the…

— M.I.A

Tamils all over the world have a sense of belonging to the world itself, but our ancient roots come from India. I…

— M.I.A

My experience has to be funnelled through a black experience or a white experience, or it doesn't exist, because that's how we're…

— M.I.A

My record label always says you shouldn't talk about money because it makes people extremely uncomfortable. Refugees can't talk about money. Rappers…

— M.I.A

'Paper Planes' was an accident. It wasn't a song we made for the masses. It took two years to get popular, and…

— M.I.A

Culturally, I found myself in a very weird situation: you were the person that had made that journey to the West, and…

— M.I.A

I felt pissed off because I realized that you have to teach people in a clichéd way how to be happy-and happiness…

— M.I.A

If you're talking about coexisting and tolerance then you have to live by example, and you can't have shiny people all the…

— M.I.A

When I started off in England, HMV or Tower Records would come to meetings and be, like, 'We just don't know what…

— M.I.A

What's wrong with hip-hop [is that] it became so one-dimensional; it became like a businessman thing. It's run out of creativity. It…

— M.I.A

I dont like the idea of spirituality done the way its done. The only way I could understand it was through creativity,…

— M.I.A

Basically, when I went to school in Sri Lanka from age five onward, the classes there were sometimes sorted into a hierarchy…

— M.I.A

You can't turn up at college in stilettos and say you're gonna be a filmmaker. In the college, they were teaching me…

— M.I.A

You need everyone to get together and just believe in it, and lead by example that it is possible to be outside…

— M.I.A

Confidence takes constant nurturing, like a bed, it must be remade every day.

— M.I.A

I feel like I can't really have a comment.

— M.I.A

I was part of the generation that pushed the Internet. In fact, I broke as an artist in the U.S.A. because of…

— M.I.A

It is a coincidence that Mathangi is the Goddess of Music and the spoken word, which can be rap.

— M.I.A

That's what's inspiring to me - finding someplace where people haven't already seen themselves in a certain light.

— M.I.A

I've documented a lot of things myself as a filmmaker. If you want a rockumentary, that's in there.

— M.I.A