Where does M.I.A. (rapper) live?

Publish date: 2024-07-08

Known by her stage handle M.I.A. (an initialism for both “Missing in Action” and “Missing in Acton”), Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam (born 18 July 1975) is a British rapper, musician, and anti-vaccination activist.

With electric instruments and samples, her music incorporates elements of alternative, dance, electronic, hip hop, and world music.

M.I.A., whose parents are Sri Lankan Tamils, was born in London and moved with her family to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka at the age of six months. When she was a young kid, the Sri Lankan Civil War prompted her family to flee their home and return to London as refugees.

The war had a significant impact on M.I.A.’s artistic vision.

Both of M.I.A.’s debut albums, Arular (2005) and Kala (2007), were widely praised by critics for fusing hip-hop with electronic and world music. Over four million copies of Kala’s single “Paper Planes,” which peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100, were sold.

Her contentious single-short video “Born Free” was released prior to the release of her third album, Maya (2010). Her best-charting song, Maya, made it to the top 10 on a number of charts.