As she releases her sixth album, the musician discusses – and stokes – her controversial history, dismissing identity politics, the move to defund the police, and cancel culture
For 20 years, MIA has existed at the intersection of vilification and vindication. The Sri Lanka-born, London-raised rapper and singer has spent her entire career fighting perceived injustices in the world, from the underreporting and whitewashing of the Tamil genocide to the incarceration of her friend, the WikiLeaks whistleblower Julian Assange. She also has terminal foot-in-mouth disease, and is prone to flippant, occasionally outright offensive trolling in the press and on Twitter.
At the heart of it all has been the music itself – an electrifying body of work that is innovative, influential and, to this day, totally singular. Travis Scott, one of the most successful living rappers, has listed her as one of his favourite artists; in 2020, she was awarded an MBE for services to music.
