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X-clusive: M.I.A. “My Beats Are Worth Millions!"

added 19 April 2005 at 12.11

Raised in Sri Lanka before moving to London, Maya Arulpragasam a.k.a. M.I.A. a.k.a. the most talked about new name in UK hip-hop spoke exclusively to Xfm about the release of her debut album and why her American label would have paid millions for her D.I.Y. beats.

This week M.I.A. releases her debut album ‘Arular’, a hotch-potch of hip-hop, ragga, bangra with an indie sensibility. The former Elastica film-maker is currently being lauded by critics worldwide and touted as the first artist to have been ‘produced’ soley by the Internet revolution.

“I wasn’t getting any radio airplay and was ready to take my thing on the road,” the 27-year old M.I.A. explains, “And I think I was the first artist to be created by the Internet. The media thinks it knows what people should and shouldn’t do, but people aren’t stupid. They don’t need to be told and the Internet allows people to make their own decisions.

Following the release of the X-Posure rated singles ‘Galang’ and ‘Sunshowers’, Arulpragasam inked a deal with Interscope in the US and XL in the UK. With producers Steve Mackey (of Pulp), bootleg king Richard X and the Fat Truckers on board the line-up looked strong. Not that the record company really knew what they were getting…

“When I signed with XL they didn’t even know what the f**k I was,” she says. “They’d say, ‘So what the f**k are you gonna do on this album’  but I had 100% creative control and so just did my thing. I did it at my own pace and tried to avoid the corporate bullsh*t.

“I picked the best producers from lots of different genres. Richard’s clever, fast and really open-minded. Steve gave me that kind of Sheffield sound and I used house producers Switch on the new single ‘Pull Up The People’ which the Americans are loving.”

One of M.I.A.’s most appealing factors is her D.I.Y. ethic releasing the Bangles and Eurythmics-sampling mixtape ‘Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1’ to the Internet when she couldn’t officially clear the amples, showing money doesn’t always buy quality.

“Jimmy Irvine from Interscope said ‘M.I.A., if we had those beats before you we’d have paid million of pounds for them. I don’t know how you came up with them but, sh*t, we’d have wanted em for Gwen [Stefani]!’ And I said, ‘See, all you really need is two hundred quid and four-track recorder…’."

M.I.A.’s debut ‘Arular’ is released this week through XL Recordings. She'll also be playing the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury Festival in June.

Check out the Xfm Online Festival Guide for all the latest line-up, ticket and site details as well as all the gossip and rumours about all the biggest festivals taking place this summer.

Tagged as M.I.A., archive

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