Retirement: a brand new beginning! How wonderful! M.I.A. More Quotes by M.I.A. More Quotes From M.I.A. The first 10 years of my life, I lived as 'Matangi.' When I came to England in '86, my first week of school was terrible because I would put my hand up to answer things, and no one would choose me because they couldn't say my name. My auntie came from Europe to visit us, and she was like, 'Just call yourself something else.' M.I.A. my-lifeyourselfmelife It's interesting, because I named my first album after my dad because I wanted to find him. My second album was named after my mom because I felt like I learned all my creative talents I learned from her. All the survival stuff, too. And then the next album is 'Maya,' which is not my real name. It's fake. M.I.A. namefakedadmom I don't consider myself a musician. I'm an artist. M.I.A. considermyselfmusicianartist In New York, everyone's really neurotic and talks about themselves all the time. M.I.A. everyonenewnew-yorktime At first, I found the music I was making really hard to find a home for. I felt like my attitude was really British, but not the actual sounds I was making. Back in 2003, when I made 'Galang,' there were no clubs that had an 'anything and everything' attitude. M.I.A. backmusichomeattitude I remember taking my demo to every dance person in London. People were like, 'We don't know what this is!' The first people to champion me were a club in Manchester. M.I.A. mechampiondancepeople When we moved to England in 1986, I was ten years old and I didn't know anything about punk or hip hop. The only words I knew in English were 'dance' and 'Michael Jackson.' We got put in a flat in Mitchum, and the council gave us second hand furniture, second hand clothes and a second hand radio that I took to bed with me every night. M.I.A. wordsmedancenight
