From the moment Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam began her music career in the early 2000s, she cut a singular figure. Born in England in a Sri Lankan Tamil family, she started as a visual artist and was encouraged to experiment with her own music by Peaches. The result was M.I.A, a blend of rap, visual arts, dance music and politics that was distinctively of the era yet also prophetic of how popular music would change by the end of the decade. Her first two albums, 2005’s Arular and its follow up Kala two years later, featured production from Diplo, Switch and Sheffield’s Cavemen, who helped M.I.A craft a sound capable of appealing to both the clubs and the charts and turn her into a global icon. She released another three albums subsequently and continues to tour, provoke and influence.

In this lecture at the 2007 Red Bull Music Academy, M.I.A detailed the experiences and journeys that fueled Kala, global bass and the politics of free speech.