M.I.A. Talks About Sex, Baby

Via Chart Attack: *"At this point no one can tell me what kind of album to make, I'm too opinionated, I also came out of nowhere so they don't even know what they want to tell me to do. This is what caused my Three 6 Mafia problems. When I went to work with them they were like, 'Right, you're a girl, we need you to sing about sex.' And I was like, 'Listen, I have some time to sing with you and I'm not going to sing about sex right now. You're going to have to get Paris Hilton for this one.' In India it was hard because I'm a woman. People would say, 'Uh… you're a girl, you can't tell us what to do.' But you had to work with that. I got used to it and I didn't have time to fight that battle. I had Dave [Switch] joined to my hip and I would have to tell him what to do, and then he would have to tell them.

Also, while recording in these different places, in the back of my head I kept thinking, 'Oh, I've only got this much time before I have to get back to London to refresh my visa.' At the end of the day, it came down to that a lot of the time. I could have left where I am and be a superstar MC living in Beverly Hills in a giant house with Gwen Stefani, but I didn't 'cause I couldn't.

People try to get me to collaborate or do things, but sometimes I say no because I'm just not ready. I know they're doing it for my own good. They say, 'Why don't you want this? You'll be huge. Don't you want to chart?' But I don't give a shit about the charts. I will not be an artist dictated by the charts. They tell me I'm too gangsta, but this is me. I have to stick to what I am."* Kala will be released internationally this week.

MP3: M.I.A. - XR2