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M.I.A. (rapper)
Mathangi Arulpragasam (Tamil: மாதங்கி அருள்பிரகாசம்; born 18 July 1975), known as Maya and professionally as M.I.A. (Tamil: எம்.ஐ.ஏ.; an initialism for both "Missing in action" and "Missing in Acton"), is an English singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, and activist. Her music combines elements of alternative, dance, electronic, hip hop and world music with electronic instruments and samples.
Born in London to Sri Lankan Tamil parents, M.I.A. and her family moved to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka when she was six months old. As a child, she experienced displacement caused by the Sri Lankan Civil War, which made the family return to London as refugees when M.I.A. was 11 years old; the war had a defining influence on M.I.A.'s artistry. She started out as a visual artist, filmmaker and designer in 2000, and began her recording career in 2002. One of the first acts to come to public attention through the Internet, she saw early fame as an underground artist in early 2004 with her singles "Sunshowers" and "Galang".
M.I.A.'s first two albums, Arular (2005) and Kala (2007), received widespread critical acclaim for their fusion of hip hop, electronic, and world music influences. The latter's single, "Paper Planes", (co-produced by at-the-time partner Diplo) peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. Her third album, Maya (2010), was preceded by the single "Born Free" and an accompanying controversial music video/short film. Maya debuted within the top ten of the album charts in the United States, Finland, Norway, Greece and Canada. Her fourth studio album, Matangi (2013), spawned the single "Bad Girls", which won accolades at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her fifth album, AIM (2016), was met with a critical and commercial decline. She guest performed alongside Young Thug on Travis Scott's 2020 single "Franchise", which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100, and released her sixth studio album Mata (2022) two years later, which spawned the single "The One".
M.I.A.'s accolades include two American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) awards and two MTV Video Music Awards. She is the first person of South Asian descent to be nominated for an Academy Award and Grammy Award in the same year. She was named one of the defining artists of the 2000s decade by Rolling Stone, and one of the 100 most influential people of 2009 by Time. Esquire ranked M.I.A. on its list of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century. According to Billboard, she was one of the "Top 50 Dance/Electronic Artists of the 2010s". M.I.A. was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for her services to music.
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam was born on 18 July 1975, in Hounslow, London, the daughter of Arul Pragasam, a Sri Lankan Tamil engineer, writer and activist, and his wife, Kala, a seamstress. Her first name is derived from the Hindu goddess, Matangi. When she was six months old, her family moved to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka, where her brother was born. There, her father adopted the name Arular and became a political activist and founding member of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), a political Tamil group affiliated with the LTTE. The first 11 years of Arulpragasam's life were marked by displacement caused by the Sri Lankan Civil War. Her family went into hiding from the Sri Lankan Army, and Arulpragasam had little contact with her father during this period. She has described her family as living in "big-time" poverty during her childhood but also recalls some of her happiest memories from growing up in Jaffna. Maya attended Catholic convent schools such as the Holy Family Convent, Jaffna, where she developed her art skills—painting in particular—to work her way up her class.
Due to safety concerns, Arulpragasam's mother moved with her children to Madras in India, where they lived in a derelict house and received sporadic visits from their father, who was introduced to the children as their "uncle" in order to protect them. The family, minus Arular, then resettled in Jaffna temporarily, only to see the war escalate further in northeast Sri Lanka. During this time, nine-year-old Arulpragasam's primary school was destroyed in a government raid.
Her mother then returned with her children back to London in 1986, a week before Arulpragasam's 11th birthday, where they were housed as refugees. Her father arrived on the island and became an independent peace mediator between the two sides of the civil war in the late 1980s–2010. Arulpragasam spent the rest of her childhood and teenage years living on the Phipps Bridge Estate in the Mitcham district of south London, where she learned to speak English, while her mother brought the children up on a modest income. Arulpragasam entered the final year of primary school in the autumn of 1986 and quickly mastered the English language. Her classmates had difficulty pronouncing her first name so her aunt suggested that she use the nickname "Maya". Hers was one of only two Asian families on the estate at the time, in an atmosphere she has described as "incredibly racist."
While living in England and raising her children, Arulpragasam's mother became a Christian in 1990 and worked as a seamstress for the Royal Family for much of her career. She worked from her home in London's Tooting area. Arulpragasam had a difficult relationship with her father, due to his political activities in the 1980s and complete absence during much of her life. Prior to the release of the first album, which Arulpragasam had named after her father, he emailed her: "This is Dad. Change the title of your album. I'm really proud. Just read about you in the Sri Lanka Times. Dad." She chose not to change the album title. Arulpragasam attended the Ricards Lodge High School in Wimbledon. Following high school, she attended Central Saint Martins by gaining admittance through unconventional means despite not having formally applied. In 2000, she graduated from London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design with a degree in fine art, film and video.
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M.I.A. (rapper)
Mathangi Arulpragasam (Tamil: மாதங்கி அருள்பிரகாசம்; born 18 July 1975), known as Maya and professionally as M.I.A. (Tamil: எம்.ஐ.ஏ.; an initialism for both "Missing in action" and "Missing in Acton"), is an English singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, and activist. Her music combines elements of alternative, dance, electronic, hip hop and world music with electronic instruments and samples.
Born in London to Sri Lankan Tamil parents, M.I.A. and her family moved to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka when she was six months old. As a child, she experienced displacement caused by the Sri Lankan Civil War, which made the family return to London as refugees when M.I.A. was 11 years old; the war had a defining influence on M.I.A.'s artistry. She started out as a visual artist, filmmaker and designer in 2000, and began her recording career in 2002. One of the first acts to come to public attention through the Internet, she saw early fame as an underground artist in early 2004 with her singles "Sunshowers" and "Galang".
M.I.A.'s first two albums, Arular (2005) and Kala (2007), received widespread critical acclaim for their fusion of hip hop, electronic, and world music influences. The latter's single, "Paper Planes", (co-produced by at-the-time partner Diplo) peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. Her third album, Maya (2010), was preceded by the single "Born Free" and an accompanying controversial music video/short film. Maya debuted within the top ten of the album charts in the United States, Finland, Norway, Greece and Canada. Her fourth studio album, Matangi (2013), spawned the single "Bad Girls", which won accolades at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her fifth album, AIM (2016), was met with a critical and commercial decline. She guest performed alongside Young Thug on Travis Scott's 2020 single "Franchise", which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100, and released her sixth studio album Mata (2022) two years later, which spawned the single "The One".
M.I.A.'s accolades include two American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) awards and two MTV Video Music Awards. She is the first person of South Asian descent to be nominated for an Academy Award and Grammy Award in the same year. She was named one of the defining artists of the 2000s decade by Rolling Stone, and one of the 100 most influential people of 2009 by Time. Esquire ranked M.I.A. on its list of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century. According to Billboard, she was one of the "Top 50 Dance/Electronic Artists of the 2010s". M.I.A. was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for her services to music.
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam was born on 18 July 1975, in Hounslow, London, the daughter of Arul Pragasam, a Sri Lankan Tamil engineer, writer and activist, and his wife, Kala, a seamstress. Her first name is derived from the Hindu goddess, Matangi. When she was six months old, her family moved to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka, where her brother was born. There, her father adopted the name Arular and became a political activist and founding member of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), a political Tamil group affiliated with the LTTE. The first 11 years of Arulpragasam's life were marked by displacement caused by the Sri Lankan Civil War. Her family went into hiding from the Sri Lankan Army, and Arulpragasam had little contact with her father during this period. She has described her family as living in "big-time" poverty during her childhood but also recalls some of her happiest memories from growing up in Jaffna. Maya attended Catholic convent schools such as the Holy Family Convent, Jaffna, where she developed her art skills—painting in particular—to work her way up her class.
Due to safety concerns, Arulpragasam's mother moved with her children to Madras in India, where they lived in a derelict house and received sporadic visits from their father, who was introduced to the children as their "uncle" in order to protect them. The family, minus Arular, then resettled in Jaffna temporarily, only to see the war escalate further in northeast Sri Lanka. During this time, nine-year-old Arulpragasam's primary school was destroyed in a government raid.
Her mother then returned with her children back to London in 1986, a week before Arulpragasam's 11th birthday, where they were housed as refugees. Her father arrived on the island and became an independent peace mediator between the two sides of the civil war in the late 1980s–2010. Arulpragasam spent the rest of her childhood and teenage years living on the Phipps Bridge Estate in the Mitcham district of south London, where she learned to speak English, while her mother brought the children up on a modest income. Arulpragasam entered the final year of primary school in the autumn of 1986 and quickly mastered the English language. Her classmates had difficulty pronouncing her first name so her aunt suggested that she use the nickname "Maya". Hers was one of only two Asian families on the estate at the time, in an atmosphere she has described as "incredibly racist."
While living in England and raising her children, Arulpragasam's mother became a Christian in 1990 and worked as a seamstress for the Royal Family for much of her career. She worked from her home in London's Tooting area. Arulpragasam had a difficult relationship with her father, due to his political activities in the 1980s and complete absence during much of her life. Prior to the release of the first album, which Arulpragasam had named after her father, he emailed her: "This is Dad. Change the title of your album. I'm really proud. Just read about you in the Sri Lanka Times. Dad." She chose not to change the album title. Arulpragasam attended the Ricards Lodge High School in Wimbledon. Following high school, she attended Central Saint Martins by gaining admittance through unconventional means despite not having formally applied. In 2000, she graduated from London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design with a degree in fine art, film and video.