1. She danced with Tupac at a club in Century City, Los Angeles.
M.I.A. wasn't feeling the new direction Shakur's sound had taken. "HE WAS SWEET BUT ALL I WANTED TO SAY WAS I WANT THE 'I GET AROUND,' 'BRENDA'S GOT A BABY' PAC BACK," HE WAS ALREADY LIKE A THUG BY THEN, IT WAS 'CALIFORNIA LOVE' DAYS."
2. Her music is the sum of a lot more than just sounds.
"IT'S A LAYERED CO EXISTENCE OF MANY IDEAS AND PEOPLE AND GENRES."
3. The lead singer of Britpop band Elastica was one of M.I.A.'s teachers.
"justine frischmann helped me, she was a great, strong, and wise female to be mentored by."
4. She was really nervous during her first ever performance, which was hosted by The FADER.
"It was for FADER magazine, i had to do 3 songs my manager at the time had to push me on stage and i was holding on to the ledge so hard in the end it took like 3 people to push me out. it was one of the hardest things ive done."
5. She didn't over think the songs on her new album.
"ALL SONGS ARE WHAT CAME NATURALLY AND I LEFT THEM AS CLOSEST TO THE MOMENT THEY GOT MADE, I NEVER WENT BACK IN ON ANY OF THEM BECAUSE THEY WERE LIKE PHOTOS, JUST OF THAT MOMENT."
6. Being secure financially was one of the biggest shifts in her creative process between albums.
"[The biggest differences between creating her debut LP Arular and AIM were] THE FREEDOM TO CREATE WITHOUT POVERTY AND PAYING BILLS AND WORRYING ABOUT PAYING LOANS, AND COZ YOU ARE A CREATIVE ON A EQUAL LEVEL WHEREAS B 4 NO ONE BELIEVED IN YOU."
