M.I.A.: “Is Beyoncé Or Kendrick Lamar Going To Say Muslim Lives Matter?”

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

M.I.A.: “Is Beyoncé Or Kendrick Lamar Going To Say Muslim Lives Matter?”

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

The always-outspoken M.I.A. is the subject of a new profile in The Evening Standard, and as usual she gave the press a piece of her mind. The most provocative opinion she expressed was in response to Beyoncé’s Black Power salute at the Super Bowl, which M.I.A. says she didn’t see. She used the mention of black civil rights as a jumpoff point to discuss what she says as an American conspiracy of silence about brown civil rights. Here’s M.I.A.’s take:

It’s interesting that in America the problem you’re allowed to talk about is Black Lives Matter. It’s not a new thing to me — it’s what Lauryn Hill was saying in the 1990s, or Public Enemy in the 1980s. Is Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar going to say Muslim Lives Matter? Or Syrian Lives Matter? Or this kid in Pakistan matters? That’s a more interesting question. And you cannot ask it on a song that’s on Apple, you cannot ask it on an American TV programme, you cannot create that tag on Twitter, Michelle Obama is not going to hump you back.

The interview tackled several other points of note, including some advice she received from Kanye West 10 years ago, which seems extra fascinating given where Kanye’s life has taken him:

He said: “Whatever you do, don’t date people, don’t get pregnant, don’t fall in love. Love is like cancer.” At the time, I thought he was so wrong. I said: “It’s terrible you think like that!” But now I think he was right.

Part of the reason M.I.A. agrees with the old Kanye is that she believes her relationships have overshadowed her music:

In the beginning, everyone was like: “Oh, Diplo did all your work.” Then it was like: “You had a baby with a billionaire, that undoes everything you lived before.” I wish I just said, “Fuck you.”

Lastly, she weighed in on what she’s afraid of:

Nothing. I feel like I should have died a long time ago. I’m surprised I’m still alive, to be honest. I came from war. When I was growing up I didn’t really think I’d live beyond about 25. I never thought I would be old enough to drive or have a house or raise a child. Having to do it is really difficult.

The profile also touches on M.I.A.’s legal trouble with the NFL and the Paris St. Germain soccer club, all of which is allegedly over, as well as her work with H&M’s recycling campaign. Read the whole profile here.

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