“I put people on the map that never seen a map.” – M.I.A.
Today, we woke up to a fascinating interview on NPR with a brilliant artist who constantly challenges and inspires us – M.I.A.
In it, she discusses the realities of being a refugee of war from Sri Lanka in London, the perspective of now having a voice in a time when war is the most invested thing on the planet, and how she feels a sense of solidarity with Jacob… although their journey to being heard looks quite different.
Here’s the excerpt mentioning Jacob:
NPR: The reason I asked about that quote is because — it’s so interesting. Your reputation among many is that you are, you know, an “angry rapper.” And yet listening to you now, you have this gentle voice. It’s fascinating to chat with you. But I wanted to bring up another track from the new album, “Boom Skit,” which it’s about you not feeling welcomed in the United States.
M.I.A.: Well, it was like this. When that whole KONY 2012 thing happened, millions of people got behind it, every artist. Oprah got behind it. This whole story about Jacob happened — he was a child soldier — and how everyone needed to go and catch Kony and bring him to justice, right?
NPR: You’re talking about Joseph Kony, the Ugandan warlord who abducted kids to fight in his militia. There was an American internet video made about a child solider there, which ended up bringing a lot of attention to Uganda’s civil war.
M.I.A.:Yes, and here I was. I had left Sri Lanka, which is still a very unsafe place. For me to get here, I had to learn to speak English, I had to go to art school, become a rapper — because it’s what America understood the most, in terms of communication — get to America, stand in front of respected TV channels like CNN and Fox. And I was like, “Hi, my name is M.I.A. I’m a Tamil and I come from Sri Lanka. Oh, by the way: There’s a war coming to an end, but it’s not as easy as the government killing terrorists. It’s a lot of civilians getting killed, and they’re using chemical weapons. Footage is being uploaded to YouTube, which is disgusting.” And everybody told me to F off. They were just like, “We don’t understand you; you’re a liar,” and discredited the work that I had done for 10 years.
NPR: Who told you to “F off,” as you say? Where was that message coming from?
M.I.A.: Well, that’s kind of what the New York Times article was about: It was a government official and my ex-boyfriend discrediting what I was saying, and everyone got behind them. So it was really confusing to me because I was like, “Well, what’s the difference?” One is a story where an American person goes to Uganda and picks out the story, puts it into context and then uploads it to YouTube, and then a lot of Americans can understand it. And me, I can be in the same category as Jacob, but I did the journey myself — nobody had to come to my village and save me and articulate my story. I’d learned the language myself, I built the platform myself, got to a microphone myself, got nominated for a Grammy and an Oscar the same month, to make the biggest platform possible in America. Then I told the story — and it didn’t translate. A lot of people were like, “Just make music; don’t talk about politics.” But I was in a very difficult position: I was the only Tamil rapper [on the international stage], so when a whole bunch of Tamil people were dying, I had to tell you about it.
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We’re honored to be able to use our platform to allow people to tell their stories because we believe everyone has an inalienable right to be heard and listened to. Please take some time to read through these questions and answers.
Watch M.I.A.’s recent performance of “Come Walk With Me” at the YouTube Music Awards in support of her new album Matangi:
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